Blind Ninja
by Snipa
Summary: Everyone's heard of the legendary blind samurai. But what about the blind ninja? This is his story... Semi-dark powerful Naruto. Pairings undecided.
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone... First, I want to say that this fanfic is dedicated to a friend of mine... Who has long since entered an eternal sleep...

Secondly, I just wanted to say that I know that it's been a while since I posted a real chapter.(that crack one doesn't count). So to make it up to ya(since my mainstream is still under reconstruction), I'm making this side project(along with some others).

**Summary:** Everyone's heard of the legendary blind samurai. But what about the blind ninja? This is his story... Semi-dark powerful Naruto. Pairings undecided.

I don't know if I'll do any bashing this time around. We'll just see how it goes.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything made by Masashi Kashimoto!

**First Sense: Sight**

_The sense of seeing. Located in your eyes. It takes up 85% of our concentration at any given time unless if our eyes are closed. This sense has the shortest individual memory span. Only a split second. Our sense of sight is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it allows us to see the world around us and let us communicate with everything non-verbally. It is a curse because humans rely on this sense of sight more then any other, despite the fact that the brain fools itself with what it sees. Remember this, one may be able to _see_ something, but they might not be able to perceive it, to understand it._

Naruto stared the man in front of him down with a large scowl across his face. The chunin was smirking back at him, silently laughing up a storm in his mind.

The seven year old Naruto wearing bright orange clothes and a pair of sunglasses turned away from the man and slowly walked down the street away from the Hokage Tower. His sun-kissed spiky blond hair bounced with each slow step. His bare feet, rough from hot and bumpy streets, seemed to get heavier with each stride.

It wasn't fair!

_Flashback_

_Cornered. Had to escape. _They_ are coming!_

_The orphan quickly spun on his foot to look at a dark mass of people slowly approaching the whisker marked kid._

_The last thing he ever saw was a broken beer bottle heading for his head._

…

"_...sible. There's been simply too much damage to repair them."_

_Naruto slowly regained consciousness, and opened his eyes. Or tried to. He felt bandages on his face. He tried to move his body, but it wouldn't respond._

_Finally relenting, the boy just, instead listened in on the conversation._

"_Are you sure there's nothing that can be done," a deep and old cracked voice asked. The Hokage._

_There was silence for the answer. After a few moments, the door to his room opened and the man walked in. His footsteps hard to hear over the louder ones of the apparent doctor._

"_When will he wake up?"_

_The doctor sighed, "It's hard to say. There was a large amount of mental trauma. He had a lot of internal bleeding in various places across his body as well as broken bones and large external cuts as well. There is of course the large jagged cuts across his face leading to..." The doctor was silent for a moment more. "Of course he was healing even before Weasel entered the door, so the initial damage might've been even worse. He's taken a lot of damage. That level of damage is not something that grown men can come back sane from, much less a kid."_

_Naruto felt a hand brush his hair back._

"_Is there a chance that his regenerative abilities might help his eyes?"_

_His eyes?_

"_No, Hokage-sama. Maybe if the seal was opened a bit more at the time of the occurrence, but by now the wounds have closed and the chakra coils around them have been too damaged. Even if there was more," the doctor paused. "In my professional opinion, sir, even Tsunade might not be able to help his sight. Not after the searing, at least."_

_A seal? A wound? His chakra coils? His sight? What's going on?_

_He felt the hand brush his hair back. The Hokahe's aged old hand was soothing on the boy's head. He spoke in a soft cracked voice, as if he strained it earlier, "I'm sorry, Naruto. I failed you."_

_Failed?_

_With that the weight of his hand left the boy's head and the two sets of footsteps walked out the door only to close._

_Naruto tried to think what was going on. He tried to move his body again, but when his right hand twitched he felt a large amount of pain and passed out._

–

_Naruto, currently sitting in his bed, was honestly bored out of his mind. Stuck in this white hospital room. Unbearable silence being the only dominate presence that Naruto could feel. He knew the room was white, just that the bandages on his face kept him from opening his eyes._

_It had been a week since the incident, and Naruto was ready to take off his bandages and get out of this dull stuffy room._

_The door opened and Naruto turned his head to it. The doctor came into the room followed by the softer footstep he came to recognize as the Hokage's._

"_Naruto," the old man started, "How have you been?"_

"_Great, old man! I can't wait to get out of this stuffy room!"_

_Usually, the old man would chuckle and hurry the boy along with a smile._

_This time though, his answer was only a somber silence._

"_Naruto, there's something you need to know," the Hokage said slowly and softly._

_Naruto stayed quiet for once, sensing this was something important, if the sad undertone the boy heard was any indicator._

_The old man took a step forward, and touched this boy's face with his hand. A finger traced across the boy's eyes that were hidden under his bandages._

"_During the attack," he hesitated. The old man never hesitated! Except for when the boy would ask why people would attack him. Connecting the dots, Naruto waited for his long time answer. "During the attack, someone cut across your face with a broken bottle which cut your eyes. Then he... burned the insides of your eyes away."_

"_So what, old man? They'll heal like everything else," the kid just wanted to get out of this damned hospital. He didn't get the answer as to _why.

"_No, Naruto. The burning was permanent. You... I'm sorry, but," The Hokage lifted the bandages from the boy's face._

_Naruto opened his eyes, but all he saw was darkness._

"_You're blind, Naruto," the old man finished with a sad tone._

_Naruto slowly lifted his hands up to his face_

End flashback

Naruto felt his eyes under his sunglasses. They were there, but according to the fire shadow, he did not have the blues of his eyes anymore. It was just white with a black spot where the irises used to be. That was almost a year ago.

At first, Naruto had to have an escort in the form of one Weasel, the only ANBU he could trust. The boy would stumble across the streets as his blue sandals would catch on things he couldn't see. He would sometimes fall. Sometimes the ANBU would catch him, other times he fell flat on his face.

After some trial and error, the boy learned that if he walked barefoot he could feel his way around the town better due to the cracks and bricks in the street had a particular pattern to them, so he would know when to turn and where to dodge. Now, he can walk clear from one side of the village to the other without so much as a single stumble.

However, despite his adaptability to his situation, he was barred from entering the ninja academy. They always muttered something about "Blind demons" not allowed into their school.

The situation only got worse as people started to attack the "blind demon" thinking he was weak and helpless. Because of this, Naruto's ability to hear had heightened. If he failed to hear an ambush before it came...

Naruto shivered. He had been in the hospital ten more times in this last year. After the eleventh attempt, which he barely escaped, Weasel approached the boy and told him how to hear the world around him and notice things about it.

As a ninja who has fought in many battles, the Weasel said, you have to learn how to use ALL of your senses.

When Naruto asked what the man meant...

"_Humans have 12 senses, Naruto-san."_

When he asked what the 12 were, all he got was a chuckle.

Naruto pondered what those 12 were.

So far, all he had were sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. That was 5.

He would've headed down to the library to read up on that, but two things bared his path.

One, he couldn't read because he was blind.

And two, the librarian was a Haruno.

So instead, he asked people he knew, like the two ramen chefs at that one friendly ramen stand. They gave the same answer he had from the beginning.

Naruto entered his apartment, only to stiffen when he heard a slight sound of someone breathing.

The kid quickly pulled out a kunai and asked, "Who's there?"

"It's me, Naruto."

"Weasel," Naruto acknowledged and put his kunai away.

"You sensed me, that was good Naruto-kun," Weasel said with some pride.

"Well, I had a good teacher, Weasel-sensei," Naruto said while sitting down on the couch.

There was silence for a moment, but it was a comfortable one to the blind boy.

"Naruto."

"Yes?" The blond lifted his head up and looked in the general direction he heard the voice come from.

"Remember when I told you about how humans have 12 senses," the man asked.

Naruto nodded.

"Well, I have to _leave_ in two months from now, and during this time I wished to teach you the significance of those twelve senses to you."

Naruto smiled for the first time in a month though he wondered what his sensei meant.

–

Three months later.

Ever since the Uchiha massacre, things got worse for the blind blond. It got to a point that the blond had to wear brown and grey clothes to blend in with the environment. Without his escort turned traitor, the blond was on his own. He couldn't even get close to the Hokage Tower anymore.

_They_ would chase him.

He was blamed for the deaths of the Uchiha clan. Word had gotten around that the kid's escort was one Uchiha Itachi. According to the rumors, he was the entire reason that the man had gone insane and exterminated his entire clan.

Well, _almost_ exterminated, because the man had left his younger brother behind. The rumors around that said that the _holy boy_, one Uchiha Sasuke, had, at the last moment, made his brother see the light and the ex-ANBU run away with tears in his eyes.

Of course, the Hokage denied all of these accusations, but no one listened.

You'd think the old man would've learned by now... right?

However, today was the worst. Today was his birthday. He had tried to run, tried to use everything that Weasel had taught him, but in the end, a ninja, from how the man felt to the kid, had caught him.

The boy was being dragged on a rope by a man while many around his poke and prodded the boy with pointy objects. The rope around the boy's neck. He struggled to with his hands to keep it from choking him.

[Start song - "Ray Charles - Hit the Road Jack (2010 Digitally Remastered Studio version)" ]

The mob walked up to the gate. The boy heard the gate doors being opened.

The boy felt that he was picked up by two men and then tossed a large distance. The boy wailed in the air, but he knew that he was going to hit his face into the ground.

His small body bounced a few times across the uneven ground.

"And don't come back, you damned demon!"

"Yeah, we don't want your kind around no more!"

Why? Why did they treat him like this?

He tried to stand, only to get pain in response. It was no good. He couldn't use what his teacher taught him. He couldn't escape from a drunk mob. And now, he couldn't even move his badly damaged body.

His instincts kicked in, and the boy slowly dragged himself away from his once home with his only working arm.

He thought of all the times that the villagers sneered at him, and laughed when he was hurt. Of all the times that Weasel had come into his apartment smelling of blood and sounded wary of the world around him.

His mind knew that he had to find someplace to crawl into and lick his wounds.

He thought of the attacks on his person. The injuries sustained. The loss of his sight.

He squirmed his abused body into a tree.

The boy vowed to pay the village back ten fold.

–

The Hokage sighed. He took a quick look at a picture of his favorite blond kid.

With the loss of his sight, the blond had lost a lot of his apparently limitless exuberant energy, and instead channeled that to learn about his now limited world.

The kid just had things so hard.

Seeing as it was the kid's birthday, he thought to go visit the kid before he turned in for the night.

With that thought in mind, the old man stood up and shunshined his way to the apartment of his unruly grandson. He opened the door with a smile only to loose it as he took in the ransacked settings of the once clean apartment. He paled, and quickly called for his ANBU. Three men fell from their hiding places.

"Where were you! The boy should be in this apartment, safe. And here I find it ransacked. **Explain**."

The dog mask spoke up, "We don't know, Hokage-sama." There was a hint of something that made the old man uneasy. "One moment he was here, the next..." Dog gestured to the room.

"We'll talk, later, Dog," with that the old man flared his chakra. Several more ANBU entered the room. "Put the village on high alert. Naruto's missing, and we need to find him. Bring him straight to me _unharmed_!"

Many of them nodded, some were hesitant.

It would be many years until Naruto was seen again...

[ End song ]

–

End First Sense: Sightless...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Do I look like an Asian guy? Well, Do I, punk?

Second Sense: Taste

_The sense of tasting. Located in the tongue. This sense is inactive until you put something in your mouth. This sense has the third longest memory(same as scent). Two seconds. This sense is usually not used in battle, but, if trained correctly, it can sense poisons in food. It also has the potential of sensing love from those we find precious. Strangely enough, we can find out a lot about our world through this sense._

A lone figure slurped up the last of the noodles in his bowl. He set the bowl down and leaned back to burp and pat his belly. "I haven't had Ramen this good in a long time. My compliments to the chef!"

"Sure thing, sir," A young woman behind the counter responded.

The figure stood from his place at the stand and started to walk down the street. Weaving into the crowd, he disappeared from sight.

–

_The blond they know as Uzumaki Naruto was beaten, tied and then left for dead. For their betrayal, something dark and twisted awoke in the boy's soul. Whether that darkness over takes him or not, is up to Konoha..._

The Hokage sighed. This paper work just seemed endless. He glared at the stacks of paper, but got nothing in return. Seeing as he was loosing it, he sat back and rubbed his face.

After he sat back up he started to reread the report in front of him. It was the latest from Jiraiya.

Apparently, there were several C to A-ranked unknown ninjas out in the world. More than he would have liked.

While this wasn't the first set to have been given to him, he was trying to discern if any of these were...

He shook his head. It was impossible. The boy was blind. He'd be lucky to find his way down a rocky brick road, much less killing of high classed targets.

The old man placed the document to the side and continued on with the rest of his paper work for the day.

Before he got into the work too deeply, he glanced up at a photo of him and Young Naruto. Back before the incident when the boy lost his sight.

It's been almost 5 years since he's gone missing. This entire time, he's had Jiraiya keep his ear to the ground in search of his long lost foster grandson. So far, he's gotten reports on several individuals, but none of them sounded like the boy.

He had no ninja training.

He was blind.

He was mentally stunted.

But...

The Hokage shook his head. The boy may be an Uzumaki, but he was definitely not able to surpass blindness.

He just hoped the boy was found soon. They needed him.

–

It's been almost 5 years.

Five years since he cried one last time.

Five years since they had tossed him out of the village.

Five years since he vowed to pay them back for what they did to him. Ten fold.

The figure walked up to the Hokage Tower.

–

Just as the Hokage had finished up for the day, he got a knock on the door.

"Enter."

The doors opened to a figure dressed in black ANBU styled pants and a plain grey T-shirt. Over this he wore a long black trench coat that had a hood over the figure's head, completely shadowing the face. From what the old man could see, there was a face mask that started from under the grey t-shirt. The young man also wore black fingerless gloves with metal plate on the back of the hand. The metal plates looked to have a large amount of scratch marks on them, suggesting the figure had high reaction times to CQC. Along the knuckles was some curved metal to take the shape of the knuckles when a fist was formed. Strangely enough, all the figure wore on his feet were a pair of thin black socks... Scratch that, black thin leather shoes that went up the ankle and covered the bottom part of the pants. Around the shins and forearms were more metal plates that also had scratches on them like the metal plates on his hands. The metal plates were also dull black in color instead of bright silver like the norm.

"Hello, young man. What do you need," The Hokage said in a smooth, but firm voice.

The figure was silent for a moment as if thinking. A deep voice spoke up. "I was wondering if I could join your ranks of ninjas." He sounded like he didn't use his voice very much.

The Hokage narrowed his eyes. "And why should I do that, stranger?"

The figure lifted his head for a second before he lowered it again. "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Ishiki Fumei."

The Hokage's eyes flickered to the report that was on his desk. The most recent one from Jiraiya. "Ah yes," he looked back up to the figure, "I've heard of you. An A-ranked lone nin. No known village affiliation. Former alias: Kuro no Heishi. No known partners. Good skills." The Hokage stopped. His voice became deeper, "And now you wish to join my village. _Why?_"

For the final word, the old man placed some authoritative tone in his voice.

"The life of a lone nin is harsh, Sandaime-san. To constantly have to look over your own shoulder while in the heat of battle," Ishiki paused. "I simply wished to join a village that was known for its teamwork. Hence, why I'm here now. Not only am I highly skilled and able to take on jobs that would most likely need teams, but I can also work with others to be able to pull it off more efficiently."

The Hokage nodded. He knew of the life of a merc-nin was harsh. Every mercenary was out for themselves. Most low ranked merc-nin could give chuunin a struggle for battle. An A-ranked one could and would be able to hold his own in many a battles.

The reasons that the merc-nin gave were substantial ones. Still, that didn't mean he could let his guard down. He sat there for moments contemplating his decision. The figure in front of him stood motionless while he pondered. The 5'6" figure look battle hardened. The hands were always at the ready. Relaxed, yes, but still in good position to react accordingly.

"Before I answer, would you be so kind as to show or tell me of your real identity," the Hokage asked.

The merc-nin shook his head. "I'm sorry, Hokage-san, but I do not wish who I am to get out just yet. In case it doesn't work out for me here in the village, that is. Maybe when I see that I can trust you, I'll let you know."

"Then how do I know you are who you say you are?" When the merc-nin tilted his head the Hokage continued to explain. "I have had several people before you tell me that they were a high ranked merc-nin or a missing-nin from another village, major or no. Do you have any proof to value who you say you are?"

The merc-nin nodded at the explanation. He pulled the pack, which Sarutobi didn't notice earlier, from his back and searched through it. The young man then pulled out a small card and stepped forward to place it on the desk.

The Professor picked it up and looked it over. The card was one used for people to get into the drop-off points, places where bounties could be turned in by those not affiliated with villages or high valued targets that could escape easily. It showed a full body picture of the current man standing before him. "Kuro no Heishi" was titled in the place of name. In the place of most of the stats was a question mark like age facial features and abilities. The only way to confirm the verification of the man before him was the fact that it talked about a tattoo on the young man's left arm. When he looked up he saw that the young man had uncovered his left arm just enough to show the tattoo of a young wolf.

He closed his eyes for a moment before opening. "Alright, I'll let you join the village. But you will have to start from the very bottom. Genin. And you will be put on probation."

The figure nodded his head slowly. "I understand."

"Furthermore, I will have to bring your information before the council, would you like to be there?"

Fumei nodded.

The Hokage sighed and brought out the recent genin graduates list. He looked over their numbers. "What are your abilities?"

At this, Fumei tensed a little before relaxing. "I do not wish to give out all of my abilities, Hokage-san. No offense to you of course, but..."

The Hokage nodded back. "I understand, Ishiki-san. I merely mean where you are best in a given situation. I assume you're a close ranged fighter?" He gestured to the metal on the arms and legs.

Ishiki nodded. "Yes, and I do have some medium ranged and long range techniques. It helps when you have a counter for everything."

"Anything else?"

The young man lifted his head a little. "Well, I do have excellent short ranged tracking skills, as well as good long range tracking skills. I can protect more then just me, as I have had escort missions in the past. I have excellent stealth capabilities, as that should seem obvious. My aim is true well beyond most."

"Any Kenjutsu?"

The merc shook his head. "No, Hokage-san. Swords and weapons of the like just get broken and lost out in the field."

The Hokage nodded his head. "I think I have just the spot for you. Our recent set of academy graduates are short one person, so I'll put you on one of their teams." The Hokage wrote something down. "Be at this classroom tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock sharp." He held out the note. Fumei walked forward cautiously and took the note. He then handed over a hitai-ate. "Welcome to Konoha, Ishiki-san. If you would please show up tomorrow after the team meeting at the council hall so that we can official place you in our ranks."

Fumei tied the headband around his arm and turned around. "Thank you for being generous and hearing me out, Sandaime-sama," the lone nin walked away slowly towards the door. "By the way, I noticed that most of your ninjas are running about looking for something, and even getting into the village was a bit more of a hassle."

The Hokage sighed, "Yes, you are right. One of my Chunin teachers from the academy stole something and managed to get away. We have patrols going out to search for him as fast as we can. You didn't see anything while coming to Konoha, did you?"

Fumei shook his head. "No, Hokage-sama. I didn't see anything like that on my way here."

The Hokage could tell it was the whole truth. "Alright, then you're dismissed, Fumei-san."

The new Konoha ninja walked out the door and closed it after him, but not before a barely heard whisper flowed through the air. "I'll see you later, _Oji-san_."

The Hokage quickly stood to his feet as the young man left the room. Staring with wide eyes at the door, he blanched a little. He looked back down to the report from Jiraiya.

It couldn't be.

–

Fumei walked around the village aimlessly until he wandered upon a park. The young man sat down and just let the kids play near him. No one seemed to notice him, and he was just fine with that. The young man smiled underneath his mask remembering all the good times he had in this park.

And the only promise he has yet to fulfill.

He stood up when it was twilight, and stretched his stiff muscles a bit. He quietly sauntered deeper into the woods and found a nice spot on a tree branch, and drifted into a meditative sleep.

–

"SIT DOWN AND SHUT THE F*** UP!"

Fumei stood outside the door to the classroom he was told to go to.

Well now, this'll be interesting.

–

Iruka had tick marks on his head. How were they supposed to be ninjas when they couldn't even hear him yell at them. The scarred teacher was about put his face in his hands when the door to his classroom opened.

A young man wearing dark clothes walked in. "This is Iruka's classroom I assume?"

Iruka stared at the young man before realization hit his head, and he pulled a note up from his desk. "Ah, you're the one Hokage-sama wrote to me about, correct?"

"Yes."

"Well, introduce yourself to the class," Iruka gestured. Strangely enough the entire class had quieted the moment the door had opened and said class was now staring at the unknown newbie.

The young man bowed for a moment before coming back up, but his head was still bowed. "My name is Ishiki Fumei. I hope to work well with all of you," he spoke in a dull flat tone.

"Good enough, Ishiki-san," Iruka stated. "Go find a seat while I make roll call one last time for this class."

Ishiki nodded and walked up the isle. He found a spot near the back, next to the silent Hyuuga girl. Iruka shrugged mentally. Maybe the man had trust issues and didn't want anyone at his back.

–

As Iruka-sensei was calling roll, the Hyuuga Heiress was having other thoughts. Who was this person? Why'd he sit next to her? And why did his mere presence seem to shake her heart?

–

Iruka finished roll call and looked back up to his now former students. He started his last speech to the class, but mentally raged as the would-be genin started to ignore him. He summed it up quickly though, and then started to call out the new teams. "Team 1..."

"Team 7, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura,"

"YES! Take that INO-BUTA!"

"And finally, Inuzuka Kiba. Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team 8 will be Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and finally Ishiki Fumei. Your sensei will be Yuuhi Kurenai. Team 9 is still in..."

–

Hinata's attention shifted from Iruka to Fumei as the figure didn't even look like he had acknowledged that his name was called. In fact, he seemed to have the same amount of emotionless feeling to him as Shino gave off. She mentally nodded her head to herself. She could work with that. It'd be aggravating to listen to a loudmouth all day. It reminded her of him.

–

Fumei had the sudden urge to sneeze, but held it in.

–

"That's all the teams," Iruka finished. "I wish all of you the best of luck for your future career. Please come back at 1 o'clock to meet your sensei." With that the scarred man walked out the door.

Shino shifted his attention to his thoughts. The Hyuuga Heiress. He knew her. She was soft spoken and tended to be shy. While her clan was known for its unique and deadly taijutsu style, he noted that the Heiress had only moderate skill in that field, if what he remembered from the daily spars were true. Due to her clan though, she had excellent tracking skills using her byakugan.

He shifted his memories to their first year in the academy. The Hyuuga had been looking over the class the first day. As if she was looking for someone. When she couldn't find whoever she was looking for, she grew sad, and sat in the back with only half of her interest on the teacher's words.

As time progressed, she started to talk less. Eventually she stopped talking at all, and had become something of a mute. She would just stare at the people around her.

He even noted that sometimes the heiress would walk with a limp or favor one of her arms over the other. He even saw a small bruise on her neck once.

That was to say, it wasn't rare for that to happen, as all clan children had training of some sort. Even Kiba had walked in with a black eye once, but was all smiles still.

Shino turned his thoughts back to here and now, and looked at his other teammate. An enigma. He was polite and not arrogant, that much he could gather from Ishiki's introduction. But not much else. From the way he walked was like he knew where everything was, even though the teenager had never lifted his hood to see where there was an empty seat.

He would have to keep an eye on this enigma.

Shino stood up, and walked over to the two. As he approached, said enigma talked first.

"Hyuuga-san, and Aburame-san, I presume?"

Shinoe spoke quietly in return. "Yes."

"Aburame clan. Known for their use of kikaichuu on the battlefield as well as high levels of observation of the world around them. They are emotionless to a degree to help control their insects. With their insects in tandem, they can create many solutions to many problems that appear on the battlefield. Correct," Fumei asked.

"Correct," Shino responded.

"Hyuuga clan. Hyuuga are known for their coveted Byakugan, or white eyes. Also known as evil eye and all seeing white eye. The Hyuuga are known for their taijutsu battle prowess and little escapes their attention while in battle. They are currently the strongest of the leaf's shinobi clans. Correct," he asked again.

The Hyuuga nodded in return.

"You know so much about our clans, Ishiki-san, but we know so little about you. Care to tell us a little about yourself," Shino asked. He mentally added 'knowledgeable' to the list of things this enigma was. At the same time, he wondered if the teenager knew if the heiress nodded or not.

Fumei was silent for a moment, as if in contemplation, and then spoke. "I guess I should. As you know, I am Ishiki Fumei. I am an ex-merc-nin. I have no previous affiliation with any village in the past. I am a close range fighter specialist, but I also have long range and mid range support capabilities. I have good to excellent tracking skills and I have high skills in stealth. As you should assume, I am able to look out for myself on the field, Aburame-san."

Shino nodded. "I understand, Ishiki-san. Would you like to join me for lunch? It would be logical to bond a little as we will be teammates for quite some time."

"I shall. What of you, Hyuuga-san," Ishiki asked in his flat tone.

Hinata nodded.

"Good. Do either of you have any suggestions, as I don't know any good place to eat at. I just came into Konoha a couple of days ago," Ishiki finished.

So he did know that she nodded. Shino furrowed his eyebrows a little; an action only his father would see. He stored this information away for later. "Yes. I know of one. A barbeque restaurant just down the street. There we can eat and talk until our time to meet our sensei."

With that, Fumei stood up and so did Hinata. "Lead the way, Aburame-san."

–

1:00 PM

Hinata had enjoyed the lunch with the two boys. Make that two young men. They seemed polite to her as they all ate quietly the entire visit to the barbeque. Little words were said other then common greetings to the waitress and the host. It was a comfortable silence that the three had eaten in. No words were needed. They all seemed to understand each other through sheer body language.

The three of them knew they were to be a team, and as thus, had to work together.

All three sat down in the back of the classroom to wait for their sensei to arrive. They weren't the first back, but they weren't the last either.

The jounin had come and gone, eventually though a raven haired woman with red eyes walked in through the doors. "Team 8, you're with me." And right back out the door.

The three genin stood up and walked down the isle and out the door once more to follow their now identified sensei.

Down the hall was their sensei waiting by the front door. When she saw them, she turned out the door and walked into the sun.

They followed her outside to see her just turning right outside of the gate to th academy grounds.

When they reached the gate they looked around just to see her as she turned onto another street.

–

After about an hour's worth of a game of cat and mouse. The three had finally walked up to their sensei in an empty training ground. Their sensei's back was facing them and seemed to be in a relaxed posture.

When they came within ten feet of her, she turned around and smiled at them. "Hello, team 9. I am your sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai. Welcome to training ground 23. This is where you'll be taking one last test."

The three genin stayed silent. Two eying their sensei with suspicion while the third had his eyes covered by his cloak.

–

Hinata didn't know what was going on, but she had a clue. Her sensei decided that the silence was long enough and filled them in.

"This is the final genin test. The failure rate is 66 percent. The genin examination just weeded out those not ready for the life of genin. This test is to see if you _are_ genin material," Kurenai spoke in a firm tone. "Your test is to find me using all of the skills that you have at your fingertips. I can be anywhere within Konoha or the training grounds just outside of its walls. If you do find me, then you pass. If you do not find me by sunset, then you fail and will be sent back to the academy. Any questions?" No answer. "Then start."

With that, the jounin simply vanished from their sight. Hinata quickly activated her eyes.

"She was never in the field to begin with," Fumei stated.

"I assumed the same," Shino said as well.

Hinata physically turned her head to look at them, though the action was not needed when she had her eyes activated.

Fumei explained, "What you were seeing the entire time was a genjutsu. In fact, the only time you ever saw her was in the academy class room where I suspect she placed the genjutsu on us."

Shino spoke up, "How do you think we should approach this?"

"Why me," Fumei asked in a neutral tone.

Shino spoke, "Well, you have the most experience on the field of the three of us."

The girl had to agree. So she nodded her own head.

Fumei was silent for a moment more. "Aburame-san, were you able to plant a bug on her?"

Shino shook his head.

Fumei hummed and then spoke, "And she was bouncing her chakra everywhere, so I couldn't pinpoint her location when she used the genjutsu. I guess she is a jounin for a reason. However, we are supposed to be a tracker squad due to our abilities."

Shino nodded in agreement. "We should gather information first, as that would be much better then searching all over for her."

The Hyuuga Heiress nodded her head. Fumei turned to look at her.

"Where should we start? You know her better then us," Fumei stated.

Hinata stared at him a moment more. How did he know that?

"I'll explain my abilities later, Hyuuga-san. For now, I wish to get this test over with."

The girl nodded her head, and made a 'follow me' gesture with her hand. She took off into the woods with both males following after her.

–

"So, you came to me first, eh brats," the woman in front of them spoke when the three had entered the Dango restaurant.

Shino nodded his head.

"I told Kurenai that Hinata-chan here is smarter then she lets on. Well, anyways, I was told to give you one clue. Where can you stand on a hero and see the village," she said her clue then went back to eating her dango.

Fumei turned around and headed out the door. "Come, I think I know where she meant," with that he took off towards the back of the village.

Shino looked at his teammate as she stared back. They both shrugged and left after him.

Ten minutes later and the three were standing on top of the Hokage monument. Specifically, the Yondaime's head. There a note was sitting.

Fumei walked up to the note and picked it up. "Heroes have come and gone. New heroes arise on the ones of the fallen, and strive forward to a new world. However, we all need to be able to look upon the fallen to honor them. Where am I?"

–

"Hmm, it's just as I thought," an old voice spoke in a room.

"Hokage-sama," a woman asked.

"Just an old man thinking here, Kurenai-san. Though, you might want to get into position soon. They'll be there within the hour at this pace."

–

Shino thought hard what this clue would mean. Where are the dead honored? A monument of sort? Ah, how could he almost forget that. "Follow me," Shino said. And turned to go back down the mountain.

They moved back into the training areas that outline the outside of the village. Shino in the lead of the group. "Training ground 7. Known for many things. The training ground of the Fourth Hokage, his team and one last important thing. A monument for the dead. To honor those fallen in battle," Shino spoke in an even tone.

The other two nodded and continued to follow him. A few seconds later they were standing before a small monument filled with names. Standing in front of it was a man with gravity defying hair. "I assume you are team 8. I was told to give this to you," the man said in a relaxed tone. He held up a note.

Fumei stepped forward and took the note, he opened it up but didn't look at it. "You have done well to get this far, but now its about time we go full circle. This is the final clue, and I am where we have met."

The three pondered it for a moment before Shino spoke up again. "Didn't you say we only saw her at the academy?"

The other two nodded while Fumei responded. "Good thinking, Aburame-san. Let's move. We have 4 hours left."

They moved quickly to the ninja academy. There, on the front door, was another note. Shino moved to pick it up. "Congratulations, you pass, team 8. Meet me at training grounds 23 tomorrow morning."

None of them moved. After a few moments, Fumei spoke, "Too easy."

Hinata nodded as Shino responded, "I concur. Her rules plainly stated that we had to find her. Not a note."

"First rule about being a ninja, Deception," Fumei put in his word.

Both of his teammates were silent for a moment more. "Why don't we look inside," Shino said. He opened the door, and standing there was Kurenai.

She was smiling. "Now, you pass. Had you left the grounds with that note in hand you would have failed. Come, meet me on the roof. Let's get to know each other better." With that she disappeared.

Shino looked to Fumei to silently ask if she was real. He nodded. All three jumped up the side of the building and landed on the roof. Kurenai was leaning against the railing.

"So, team 8. How about we get to know each other better. I'll start, my name is Yuuhi Kurenai. I am your sensei. My likes are studying genjutsu, o-sake, vodka, and takowasa. My dislikes are arrogant people, sexism and cake. My goals are to see you three become chuunin and get you as strong as I can. My dream is to make the ultimate genjutsu," she paused to let the information sink in. "Now it's your turn grey coat."

Shino adjusted his sunglasses. "My name is Aburame Shino. I am the Aburame Heir. I like to study bugs, salads, and winter melon. I dislike people who judge before given all of the facts, and tofu. My goal is to become a worthy heir. My dream is to fight someone strong."

Kurenai nodded. "Next up, black jacket."

Fumei leaned against the railing next to him before speaking. "My name is Ishiki Fumei. I am an ex-merc-nin. I like training in new things, ramen and the sunset. My dislikes are people who are ignorant of the truth and yet act like they know everything. I also dislike dango and anything too sweet. My goals and dreams are unimportant for now."

Kurenai nodded at him as well. She looked back to Hinata who shook her head. Kurenai frowned and sighed before speaking, "I'll speak for the girl. Her name is Hyuuga Hinata. She is the Hyuuga Heiress. She likes pressing flowers, tea ceremonies," the girl pointed to her, "and me, apparently. Her favorite foods are zenzai and cinnamon rolls. She dislikes..." the girl pointed to her head. "She dislikes the Hyuuga branch branding seal. She doesn't like crabs and shrimp. Her goal is to become a respectable kunoichi?" the girl nodded. "And her dream is to rid her clan of the branding seal." The girl motioned once more as if looking for something. "And to find her lost savior." She looked back to all of her students. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Hinata raised her hand a little.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

She pointed to Fumei, then herself, and then to Kurenai.

"Oh, I get what she's asking," Fumei said.

"Well?"

"She's asking how I knew that she knew you best," he said.

Kurenai had a confused look on her face.

"What I mean is, How did I know that Hinata-san knew Kurenai-san well."

Hinata nodded.

"Well, that goes along with my abilities. Humans have many senses. I merely used one of them to.. 'see' a connection between the two of you," Naruto stated.

"Many senses," the jounin asked.

Fumei nodded. "Yes, but that's for another time. I believe you had more to say to us, Kurenai-sensei?"

The jounin looked at her student carefully. "Alright," she looked back to the other two. "As of now we are all officially team 8. I have to get back to Hokage-sama to put in my report of your passing. Meet me at training ground 23 tomorrow morning at 7 for initial training and our first mission. Dismissed. Oh, and Hinata-chan, good job."

With that the genjutsu mistress disappeared from sight in a pop of smoke.

With that the three turned to one another. Ishiki spoke first, "I guess that we call it a day." his two teammates nodded. The three went their separate directions from the roof top.

As he was heading to the Hokage tower, he passed by his old apartment complex. It had been burned down, from the looks of it. No one had even bothered to clean up afterwords.

An thought from the past echoed in his head. _They will __**pay**__._

The teenager shook his head. Patience, he told himself. He'll get his revenge yet.

–

In his office, the Hokage shivered slightly. He felt a bad omen coming to the doorsteps of his village.

–

End Second Sense: Tasteless


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I hereby claim my rights to own Naruto! Okay, maybe just owning a single manga book from the Naruto series, but I have rights, dammit!

In response to some reviews that came in on chapter 2: I can safely say this much, **this story will definitely not be a naruxhina.** I am a naruhina fan myself, but with the way my plot line has been set up... well, you'll see later on.

I will go on to say that I'm still up in the air about the pairing as I can make it work with a lot of the female cast... (no, I will not have Naruto date someone twice his age or more or do incest, you sick _sick_ dicks)... so on that note I do need honest opinions about who Naruto could be paired with.(personally thinking Tayuya myself, but meh... I'm a sucker for redheads)

Third sense: Scent

_The sense of smelling. Located in the nose. This sense is mostly inactive unless a strong smell comes by or we focus on it. This sense has the third longest memory(same as taste). Two seconds. This sense has the highest potential to trigger memories. This sense is also useful to those with stronger noses as they can smell the subtle nuances in how the world around them changes. This sense is used the most in cooking or checking for a trail._

Tracking isn't as hard as people make it sound to be. Really, it's just a combination of heightened senses looking for signs that aren't actually natural. Anyone with a two-bit brain could do it easily if trained. Then again, he was a prodigy, if his so-called 'emo sensei' had said anything about that.

There was also the fact that all of his senses were beyond human, but he could safely blame that on other sources.

Now all he had to do was figure out how that damned cat could be so elusive.

–

_A mysterious visitor comes from outside the village. Dressed in all black, has this dark figure merely left his lone-wolf life to join them? The Professor hopes this is so. However, deep down the old man knows that dark tidings overshadow the village..._

"Team 8 reporting for mission completion of the capturing of the cat named Tora," the jounin stated as she and her team walked into the mission room. The cat being held by a calm Hinata, and she was purring in the genin's arms.

"Oh, my baby, Tora! Oh, how could you run away from mommy like that?" Just like that, the cat went from heaven to hell in one fell swoop.

The three genin silently pitied the small tiger.

"Well done, team 8. Well done," the old man said with pride. "Now, do you want to take another mission?"

Kurenai spoke up, "I was wondering if we could get our first C-ranked mission."

Her two rookie gennin looked at her, one with surprise, while the other had a raised eyebrow. The third gennin just stayed still, but did appear more attentive.

It has been three and a half months since the team had been put together. During that time, the three had bonded quite easily, if Kurenai had anything to say about that. They worked well as a team, despite some of the unbalancing that Ishiki brought into the team. It helped that all three were quiet and very passive when not in a battle situation.

During her team exercises, all three listened when the other spoke, or in Hinata's case, hand signed.

That was another thing that the team was learning as a whole. They had created their own sign language. Non-verbal gestures that would be meaningless to anyone else meant entire sentences to them. Since all three had an omnidirectional sense they could be a good range from each other and not in a direct line of sight and still be able to communicate non-verbally. Hinata had her Byakugan. Shino had his bugs on his teammates. Ishiki could somehow see all around him though he never did explain that. With those three abilities, the team had officially been dubbed, by the ever loving populace of Konoha, "Team Silent". Heck, she hasn't heard them talk to each other in almost a week now, but they were still communicating.

However, try as she might, she hadn't been able to learn it herself. Not that she really tried. She was happy they found themselves a way to bond even further. If she needed one of them to relay what Hinata was saying, she would ask Ishiki or Shino. One thing she did notice though was that the signing evolved as time went on. They were adding more and more gestures to their language. She didn't know when they had set it up, but somehow they had. It started off small and unobtrusive. Basic handsigns that was used in a large number of circumstances like the "move" signal or the "stop." Over time, they stopped using the basics. It even got to a point where they created completely new handisgn so that no one would be able to figure out what they said.

Individually, the three were progressing nicely in their suggested fields. Hinata and Shino were still getting private clan training, but, at the advice of Ishiki, they all took up one other thing outside of clan skills.

Ishiki suggested fuinjutsu to Shino as it would be easy for Shino to distribute them. They also required little chakra to activate. Another thing was that they had a large variety of things that seals could do. The next day, Shino had shown up with a beginner sealing book. Ishiki also asked him to study taijutsu a little as well. The tall boy's potential in the field would go to waste otherwise. Kurenai had to agree.

To Hinata, Ishiki had suggested taking up a weapon of some kind that would take advantage of the girl's lithe body. The girl had blushed a little at the weapon Ishiki had suggested. A whip. It made sense to Kurenai as the whip in question could channel chakra to the tip and deliver the same strike that she could with the tip of her finger. It increased the girl's range by a factor of four with the nine foot long whip. Said whip was now attached to the girl's hip. When the girl had to rest her legs, Ishiki had produced a medical book to the girl. "Those eyes could save more lives then even Senju Tsunade."

That didn't mean that Kurenai had no help in teaching her own students. No, she made sure that all of them had lessons in dispelling and creating genjutsus. She worked them to the ground in daily physical exercises so that they would all remain strong and fast. She had even added exercises she thought she would have to use later.

To Shino she gauged how his body worked in the basic academy style so that she could get some basics of his form in mind. Afterwords, she pulled some small books from a collection of books she had. While she didn't show it, she had some taijutsu potential and worked in several styles. She gave some books to the Aburame and had him work on the katas one at a time under her guidance. He was steadily getting stronger and faster in the styles she suggested. The Aburame had agreed Jiu Jitsu, Judo, jujutsu, and some other styles like them were best for his fighting form.

To Hinata though, that was a bit difficult. While the girl had some potential in genjutsu her family's culture prohibited it. She still taught her in that form, but she had the girl agree to keep it a secret. In reality she worked with the girl's form in the whip. While Kurenai was a jounin level ninja she didn't have much practice in the ways of weapon techniques. She had asked her friend, Yugao for some advice to help the girl along. It worked. The girl's lithe form, plus certain stretches that only females could do made the girl flexible beyond even the normal scope available to woman. The whip seemed to almost dance in her hands as she performed acrobatics that should be impossible. However, just because she was good, doesn't mean that she was perfect. She had to hold back the chuckle when she remembered the first time Hinata had accidentally tied herself up. In her other studies, Hinata was soaring through both her sensei's and Anko's libraries of herbology, medicines, and poisons. Then again, Hinata did have a natural affinity for such things...

Ishiki however was the only one of them seemed to have an aptitude for creating genjutsu though. Not that the boy had a fault. He couldn't seem to make correct visual type of genjutsu, but any others he excelled at. Hell, he was even creating genjutsu! So far they were very effective, and distracting when he uses them right.

Kurenai was brought out of her path down memory lane when the Hokage produced a scroll. "Here you go." The aged man tossed the scroll towards the "ice queen". She caught it and opened up.

She nodded after she had read it over, and looked over to her team. They were making subtle gestures. Shino looked back to Kurenai, "We're ready to go, sensei."

Kurenai's eye twitched. One of them had read the scroll and relayed it to the others. If she had to guess, it would be Hinata or Ishiki. She didn't feel any bugs. Then again, the bug boy was getting even better at hiding those things from her. It personally made her skin crawl at the thought of a bug on her skin, but she repressed it like the good jounin she was. "I take it, you already know what it says. Alright, then." She turned back to the hokage and said in an affirmative matter, "We accept the mission of rear guard patrol duty for one weeks time!"

The Professor nodded, "Alright, go and relieve the team at the specified time. A word of advice, bring a deck of cards." The old man chuckled as the three genin sweat dropped.

–

South Konoha Gate; 2200 hours

Rear patrol guard is just what it means. To patrol at a close to medium range to the target. In this case, it means patrolling between five to thirty miles from the walls of Konohagakure. Their main area of patrol was along the eastern trade roads.

Kurenai turned to her team, "Alright, you three. As you know, this is a week long patrol mission close to the walls of Konoha. We will be patrolling along the eastern trade roads to and from the village. Be vigilant, but don't get paranoid. We will be relieving one group before us. There are two other groups in our area. They will most likely be chunin. While you are under my direct control, they do have authority over you as well. As long as their orders don't usurp mine, you will obey them. Understand?"

The three nodded.

"Good. My orders are stay safe. Be ready for action at all times, and report in on the scheduled times. Understood?"

All three gave a faux salute. It was their way of saying "Crystal clear, ma'am."

She nodded back, and walked up to the chunin guards. "Team Silent, leaving the village for one week time." She handed the guard the mission papers. He checked it over and gave them a "Go ahead". The three took off immediately.

–

Fumei loved to be back in the woods. The buildings are nice and all, but the smell of the forest trumps the smell of that blasted village.

It's been seven days since the mission had started. It's their final day. During that time, they got to know the other to chunin patrols as well. Both were three man teams. They warmed up to the 'newbies' quite fast, and were eager to give some advice. Seems they had been bored out of their minds. The lead chunin had produced a small but detailed map of their patrol, which the three genin had memorized it to make sure all was well.

Kurenai for the most part had sat back and let them decide how to handle their part of the patrol. When they were about to do something wrong, she would speak up, but that had only happened once.

When Hinata had asked the jounin through Fumei why she was letting them do everything, The red-eyed woman simply answered, "To help you learn through experience."

When they didn't like the answer she explained. "I'm not here to babysit you. I'm here to help you grow into independent shinobi and kunoichi that can work together in a team efficiently. I'll train you to be strong and fast, and give you the skill necessary to accomplish the task. To help you learn how to think when on a mission I'll answer questions when you have them, and nudge you all in the right direction. For the most part, I'll be sitting by, and only come into play when you need me or when you want help in your training. Think of this as an exercise of trust and responsibility. The more you show that we can trust you and you show responsibility, the less D-rank mission we go on. The more C-ranked mission we take, the more I'll train you. The more you train, the closer you'll be to chuunin."

They had nodded. It made a lot of sense when she put it that way. When the team showed they could work together and accomplish their objectives, the more she will trust them and train them. It let them grow into their own rolls of their own system. Effective for very long term goals. Not like he'd be staying all that long...

He came out of his thoughts when he saw a group of people walk by.

–

Hinata was tree hopping in the middle of their patrol zone. She had her byakugan activated and she was constantly searching inside of he zone. On the edge of her vision range she saw Fumei start signing.

_Team Arrogant along north eastern trade road. Look like escort mission. Was attacked by two missing chuunin from kiri. Come quickly._

Hinata came down on a branch, about faced, and started hopping in Fumei's direction again.

Team Arrogant. She hated that team. Comprised of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and... She shivered... Inuzuka Kiba. Lead by Hatake kakashi.

She had nothing against the Inuzuka. Just Kiba. The boy would constantly try to hit on her, when she did her best to ignore him. Sometimes he got a little close for comfort.

She saw Shino enter her range of vision to her right heading towards their third member. So he got the message as well.

When the two landed on the branch next to the dark clad genin, they all saw Kakashi tying up the last of the two missing chunin.

Fumei signed. _Kiri missing nin. Chuunin in rank. Known as the demon brothers. C-ranked._

Hinata nodded and signed back. _ Are we to take them back to Konoha?_

Fumei just shrugged his shoulders. _Unknown. We ask sensei?_

Shino nodded back. _Agreed. We don't know how to handle this situation. Signaling sensei._

–

A bit ways away, Kuenai felt a bug on her shoulder give her some chakra beats. It was konoha's morse code standard. She shifted her feet and moved in the direction she felt her students go. At the same time she shivered in realization that the bug boy was getting better at hiding those things.

–

In a few short moments, Kurenai showed up behind them. She looked down at the situation and saw that Kakashi was asking his team for a vote on whether or not to continue the mission. The two boys on the team arrogantly said they were going, with the girl reluctantly agreeing. She sighed, and jumped down onto the road, her team jumping down behind her. "Hello, Kakashi."

The masked man turned. "Ah, I thought I sensed your team nearby. Are you here to take back our intruders?"

Kurenai looked at the two demon brothers. "No. We were on patrol nearby when they spotted your team and signaled for me. Do you need us to take care of them for you?"

The man shrugged his shoulders. "I was just gonna let them be picked up by our patrols. Since you are here, would you mind? We're kinda on a mission."

Kurenai nodded and created two solid clones to carry the downed rouge nins. "Take them to the Konoha gates. They'll know what to do with them." The two clones gave an affirmative, and took off.

Kurenai turned back to the masked man. "Carry on, Kakashi-san."

The man nodded, and turned to his students and his client.

Kurenai turned back to her own team. "Usually, we'll get rouge-nin further out, but it's not that rare for them to come in closer. Good job on knowing when to call a superior officer. Continue patrolling. We'll be back in Konoha tonight after our relief gets here."

Her genin nodded, and took off into the woods. Kurenai herself just disappeared.

Hinata never could find out how their sensei did that.

–

That night the next patrol team of chunin came in and were told that they could head back to Konoha. They packed up and moved quickly back to the gates so that they could beat the closing time for the night.

Tree hopping, Kurenai turned back to her team as she spoke. "I want to say that I'm proud of you for accomplishing your first C-ranked mission as gennin of Konoha. Ishiki-san, I know you've done this before on your own, but you seem to be fitting into the team just nicely. Hinata-chan, I know using your byakugan for extended periods of time put a strain on you, but you pulled through anyways. Shino-san, you are a great communication coordinator being able to send those signals to me quite quickly through your bugs. You three are working well together, despite my earlier concerns that I had about this. It's not all the time that we put a lone wolf merc-nin in with standard genin."

Fumei just shrugged. "What can I say? I just want to come off as normal. Besides, I think I've grown attached to this team."

Shino spoke a few moments later. "I agree with Ishiki-san. We are progressing nicely as a team, and under both Fumei's and your guidance we are growing ever stronger and more confident, kurenai-sensei."

Hinata's smile beamed at her. Both for the congratulations for the mission and appreciation for her sensei.

Kurenai smiled and flipped in mid-air to land on a branch for a moment then taking off at a slightly faster pace.

Her team may be soft spoken, but they were good kids.

–

"You made it just before last call, Team Silent," one of the chunin gate guards stated.

Kurenai sighed in relief, "Good we don't have to camp out for another night." She turned to her genin squad. "You three head on home to rest for the night. I'll turn in the paper work for the mission completed."

They nodded and started roof hopping in different directions.

Kurenai headed up to the Hokage mansion in mere moments thanks to the shunshin. She walked in and headed up the stairs, and lightly knocked on the door and walked in.

"Come."

The jounin opened the door and walked in. "Team Silent's sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai, reporting success."

"Ah, good. Where is your team," the aged man asked.

"I had them head home for the night. You can congratulate them in the morning for their good job," Kurenai said.

The old man nodded and then sat up a little straighter. The Hokage spoke softly, "What do you think on our little ex-merc-nin?"

The sensei was silent for a moment to gather her thoughts. While the words were innocent, the intentions were serious. He wanted to know if he was trustworthy.

"During our patrols, it seemed to me that Fumei-san never took off his hood, at least whenever I was around. It could be an injury that he's ashamed of, or his face is highly recognizable to a powerful man and had to hide his face so he wouldn't be found out. He's also quiet and never speaks very much. When he does speak, it's often in a soft but deep voice. I also noticed that he never sleeps in a tent, or in a sleeping bag for that matter. Always choosing a tree limb to sit on for the night. He also stirs easily in his sleep, pointing to that even though he's asleep, he is still aware of his surroundings. I had to be incredibly subtle for him not to notice me watching some of his actions, and even then I think he noticed anyways. His observational skills are indeed honed to a ridiculous degree, but I can't blame the young man.

"This all leads me to believe he's more skilled then he's letting on, and probably on par with me if how he's creating genjutsu after genjutsu from just a little nudge says anything. His potential in any field through his sheer observational skills seems to exceed even Itachi's, and we both know how over the top he was.

"He also has the ability to teach well, as both Shino and Hinata have taken teaching from him and have gotten quite strong. He spurs them on to greater and greater potentials and can even hold toe-to-toe with them both sparring against him at the same time, making his taijutsu above genin. Maybe high chunin at most from what I've seen. At the same time, as I've said before, it seems like he's holding back. Like his body tenses for a quick combo, but only goes through with one or two motions.

"Honestly, if I had to rank him, he'd be at High B-rank."

The Hokage nodded as he took in this info. He took out a report and placed it at the edge of his desk. "I wanted to see if he really was who he says he is before I even gave you this. Here is his file that Jiraiya himself composed on one Ishiki Fumei. Please read it through."

Kurenai nodded and picked up the file, quietly reading the report through. "Hokage-sama! This can't be true! Why would you put an A-ranked Merc-nin on a genin team!"

"Just read the rest of the way through if you would please," The Hokage responded.

Moments passed by as she flipped through the papers. When she reached the last page, she gasped and looked back up to the Hokage as if for reassurance.

The old man nodded. "Yes, and now I have to tell you that this is an A-ranked secret, need-to-know basis only. I don't know what he's doing back here in Konoha after all these years when he could have just stayed missing. Honestly, with the circumstances that lead to his disappearance quite some time ago, I can't say that all of his intentions are good."

The silence in the room as the information sank in was deep.

"I have an ongoing mission for you, Kurenai-san. Watch him as much as you can without letting him on that you know. If he just wants to start with a blank slate, then let him. I loved that boy with all my heart. He was like a surrogate grandson to me, and I had failed him and his family so many times. I don't want to say this, however, if you find proof of treachery..."

Kurenai slowly nodded. "I understand, Hokage-sama. I will watch him closely, and report anything negative... To think that he is..."

The old man smiled reassuringly. "I know somewhere deep down this boy is good, Kurenai-san. We just have to bring it out of him. He was such a hyper kid when he was younger. So full of energy and filled with life. Please, work with him. Show him that Konoha can let go of its grudges. I know I can trust you. You were one of three people that even cared for him as a baby."

"I'll do my best, Hokage-sama," Kurenai bowed. "If I may ask, who else knows?"

"Well, of course myself, Jiraiya, and yourself. Then there's Might Gai from team 9, The Jounin Commander: Shikaku-san, Tora the ANBU and finally the ANBU Captain Commander: Utsuro. That about sums up who knows this secret. If you need advice and I'm not around, talk to one of these five as they should be able to help you. This secret is codenamed 'Black Child.' Just mention it to them in a private setting."

Kurenai nodded and went to leave with a lot on her mind.

After the woman left the old man slumped a little. "To think our precious weapon would come back to us. Now, we just have to make sure that he won't backfire, Danzo-san."

"Indeed." A man with a cane said as he walked into the room from a secret door.

"How are things on your end," The Professor asked.

Danzo just smiled a bit. "The seal is ready. All we have to do is lure him into place."

"Good. Let's do it after the chuunin exams. I have too much on my plate as it is now."

Unknown to both of them, a shadow slowly moved away from the window and jumped off into the streets. To think he used to love the old bastard.

–

Three days later.

"You want us to what, Hokage-sama?"

"You heard me, Kurenai-san. I want you and your team to go back up team 7. They were attacked by Momochi Zabuza and Kakashi had requested back-up via nin-dog. You're to go as back-up for their main objective."

They had spent the last few days getting rest and doing one D-rank. Thinking they'd be doing more D-ranks the team was surprised by the sudden request.

She couldn't really argue. The old man knew what was best, right? … She turned her head to her team. "Alright, I guess we get our first A-ranked mission. Damned Kakashi, why couldn't he obey protocol just once?"

The genin looked to each other before looking back to their sensei. Shino spoke, "Are their any special orders, Kurenai-san?"

"No, just my usual. Stay alive. Meet me at the east gate in two hours. I have to go pick something up."

–

The team had left the gates behind them and moved at a relatively fast past. They had made it to the sea side edge within due time, though somewhat boring. After that, they water walked across. Once on the other side, she turned to her team. "Okay, you all remember what I told you on your first day of training?"

_flashback_

Training ground 23.

"Welcome back to training ground 23, you three," the woman said with a smile. "We are officially team 8 now. As a team, that means we work together to complete our tasks. You did so yesterday when you took my last test. This team's goal is to work on tracking. Originally, we were supposed to get Kiba." When she said that Hinata tensed a little.

Kurenai continued. "But at the last minute, we instead got Ishiki Fumei-san here. Even with a different member our goal is still the same: Become an excellent first response tracking team. Our main objectives are to track and be a first response group to any situation. We have our strategist and long range attacker in the form of Shino here. We have a close range attacker and a long range tracker in the form of Hinata. And from what I got from the Hokage, an all around tracker and fighter with Ishiki-san.

"Together, we'll work on your abilities to act and respond as a team that can easily chase down and either capture or kill the objective. To do that we'll need to build up your speed, stamina, tracking skills, stun techniques, ambush skills, anti-ambush, anit-anti-ambush," the three genin sweat dropped when she said that, "and quick kill techniques."

She took a deep breath, and then smiled. "Don't worry, we won't be working on all of that at the same time. For now, we'll be working on the first four: speed, stamina, tracking, and stun."

"Any questions?"

They shook their heads.

"Alright, but before we get started..."

_end flashback_

Since that day she had been training them in the four she mentioned.

Her three genin nodded.

"Good. We'll be using those skills I've been training you in to track down the location of your fellow team. Where do you think we should start," she asked them.

Shino pondered this for a moment before speaking up. "We could head to the nearest town first. One of the locals would have seen the other konoha team walk through. If not, we could look for people with a similar look. Failing that we could ask to see if they are living with their escort."

The other three nodded and did just that. They followed a road they found by following the sea shore and with that went to the nearest and possibly the only village on the island.

When they reached the town, all four members noticed the run down state that the people were living in. What they didn't expect was to see a head of pink hair walking alongside a raven haired woman. The team quickly approached them. Kurenai in front.

"Gennin Haruno Sakura of team 7, correct," she lead jounin asked.

The two were startled by the sudden voice behind them. Both females(if you can call Sakura that) twirled around to see them.

"Relax," Kurenai said. "I'm leaf-nin, as are my team. Now, report genin."

The pink haired girl nodded while the woman looked to see the three genin behind her. "Uh, well, we started our mission and along the way here we were attacked by the demon brothers, I think that's what Kakashi-sensei called them. Sasuke totally had them!" Team 8 sweat dropped at the sight since that was what most definitely not happened having witnessed it and all. "After Kakashi came in and knocked the other one unconscious, we went on and was attacked by Mo... momo... uh..."

"Momochi Zabuza," Kurenai helpfully stated.

"Ah, that's him. We were attacked by Zabuza and during the attack Sasuke had to save sensei from from this weird water ball thingy. Sasuke-kun was soo coooool!(AN: I feel dirty)" She squealed in a bubbly manner. The woman next to her was suddenly uneasy. "After Sasuke-kun saved him with an ingenious plan, Kakashi beat the man with his sharigan eye thingy."

Shino noticed that Fumei had tilted his head up slightly when he heard that last sentence.

"Then sensei passed out. A day later, he made a dog appear out of nowhere and handed it a scroll. After that he told us that Zabuza was still alive."

Kurenai turned to the woman, "Did anything happen after that, and who is this woman you are escorting?"

The woman looked surprised for a moment before speaking, "Oh, I'm Tsunami, daughter of Tazuna, the man Konoha was asked to escort."

Sakura shook her head once Tsunami answered. "No, nothing happened. Well, the only other thing that happened was that Kakashi started our tree walking training yesterday! Sasuke-kun was so awesome! He made halfway up the tree on his first try!"

Once more all of team 8, including the sensei, sweat dropped. Kurenai started grumbling to herself while Shino took this time to speak, "I believe you were doing something before we interrupted you. If you would kindly tell us where team 7 is located, that would be helpful."

"We just finished shopping a minute ago," the woman said holding up a bag. "You can walk back with us."

All four nodded while Kurenai said, "Lead on then, Tsunami-san."

–

"Hokage-sama!"

The old man looked up to see one of his more trusted ANBU kneeling before him. "Speak, Neko."

"Hoh! Just more than two days ago, we found a corpse 50 Kilometers north by north east of the village. When we took it in for testing we found that the DNA matched with one Bakenemo Mizuki," he cat masked Individual stated in a monotone.

The Hokage sighed. "Give me a full report now."

"Sir, we found the body laying by the edge of the small river Takendam, just a few kilometers outside of the village that lives off of it. The body possibly washed up there due to the fact that the body wasn't nearly as decomposed as it should have been. When our team of morticians came up with the date, they estimated roughly 8 weeks, or two months ago plus or minus one month of time. From the way the body was found we think that to be on the greater time length of 3 months."

"How was the body's condition? How did he die?"

"The body was too decomposed to roughly guess how he died, but the head mortician stated that there were many deep lacerations along the body's side, and the heart looked to have practically exploded causing instant but painful death. We're unsure of how, but more then likely it was by some sort of poison delivered by a blade or something."

"What items were on the body," the Hokage sat back preparing to listen to clothes kunai and what-not

"Nothing. The body was naked when we found it, sir. Looked to have been stripped of all possessions before being left."

The old man didn't like the sound of that. The sacred scroll of seals. The Forbidden scroll. Gone. Possibly for good. "Anything else? Weird marks, odds break in bones, anything unusual?"

There was a pause before Neko spoke once more. "Yes, one more thing. The skin between the left shoulder and the neck looked to have been completely burned. While not fatal, it is an odd injury."

The Hokage nodded. The story that body told. He nodded. "Alright then, tell them to dig further and document everything for later. If nothing can be found burn the body like usual and dump the ashes in the spot for traitors."

"Hoh, Hokage-sama!"

–

"Now, Kurenai-san, please calm down," Kakashi spoke in an even, if a bit scared, tone. "This much killing intent could cause our escort to have a heart attack."

The rest of the room were breathing easy and just staring at the spectacle before them.

"Why whatever do you mean, Hatake-san," Kurenai asked in a sweet voice. "Does anyone else feel killer intent?"

Everyone else shook their head, except for Prince Brood who just grunted.

"I thought so," Kurenai continued to speak in the sweet tone. "Now, Hatake-san. I know we don't know each other that well, me being a rookie jounin and you being an ex-ANBU captain and all, but I have a very good question for you."

Kakashi, who was sweating under her gaze and sweet smile, asked, "What would that be, Yuuhi-san?"

"Why is it that your team is only _now_ learning tree walking?" That made his three genin perk up a bit. Well, two actually. The third just went into a deeper brood.

"Uhh... well, you see, um, I had to get their team skills up to par. Yeah, I had to work on their teamwork skills," Kakashi said.

"Ah, okay. I just wanted to know," Kurenai turned her head to her team. Kakashi relaxed, thinking he was out of the frying pan.

And landed right into the fire.

The injured jounin suddenly felt pain in his neck and stomach. Kurenai had him up against the wall. "Now, tell me why the hell didn't you call for back-up the moment you found out about who was after your escort? Even if you had canceled the mission, Hokage-sama would've sent in a team for this so there was no pressure for you to continue alone." While Kurenai didn't care for the Uchiha or the Haruno, Hana, Kurenai's friend and sister to Kiba, would've been hurt to find out her brother had died on his first mission out of Konoha. She didn't like it when her friends were hurt.

"Uh, we had a vote on whether or not we should go. All three of my genin agree-"

"Don't give me any of that shit, Hatake. You know full well that you could've canceled that mission right then and there despite what your team wanted. Even if you agreed with your team, the least you could've done was call for back-up right away, or ask us to send a message to the Hokage himself!"

At this moment, Sasuke decided to speak, (hooray...) "It's because I didn't want any weak ass team slowing us down. So I told him not to call for any weak ass back-up that old bag of bones would've sent to us. And what do you know, Hatake-san called for help anyways, and then we get you. I knew we would get a weak ass te-"

"Be quiet, genin," Kurenai spoke while not looking at him.

"I'll have you know that I am an Uchiha! Not some low life genin," Sasuke scoffed. "I am an elite, not like those losers over there. Especially the Hyuuga. She'll curl up and beg them not to kill her the moment things get rough. More like she'll spread her legs to ge-" He suddenly fell to the floor on his knees as the jounin looked at him.

But the source of the pressure was not the woman. No, it was Ishiki Fumei standing behind him. Fumei spoke in a low but friendly tone, "I haven't been on this team for a long time, but they're growing on me. I don't like it when someone shoots down the people I like. Besides, if you're an elite, the best of the best, then what does that make me who you are kneeling before?"

With that, he walked back to his team, and put a supporting hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled at her. Shino placed his hand on her other shoulder. While she couldn't see the smiles, she could definitely read it through their body language. She smiled back at both of them and nodded her head in appreciation.

Sasuke, in the meantime, tried, and failed, to stand graciously as he was still shaking from the sheer killer intent. He growled at Fumei, but turned to walk over to the table to sit down.

Kurenai saw all of this, and smiled inwardly. She put up her sweet facade again and looked back to Kakashi. "Hatake-san, your genin don't seem to know discipline. Hm, I wonder what I should put in my report. Your team training obviously hasn't worked at all."

Now Kakashi knew he was walking on a fine line here. "Now, now, Kuren-" she growled. "Yu-Yuuhi-san. I called you here for back-up because Momochi Zabuza is still alive."

Kurenai dropped him on his butt and backed up a couple of inches. "Yeah, well if an A-ranked borderline S-ranked missing nin from Kiri that happened to be one of the 7 swordsman of the mist were to die so quickly, he wouldn't have been alive long enough to fight you. Besides, your report to the Hokage said as much," Kurenai stated.

"Yeah, well he also has a partner in the form of a hunter-nin from kiri as well. The hunter-nin looked pretty skilled for their age, and was obviously not one of them. I figured I would need help if we were to be attacked again," Kakashi said as he slowly got up from the ground.

"When do you suspect he'll attack," Kurenai asked, still angry but hiding most of it now.

"Well, when our battle was almost over, the hunter-nin had struck him with three senbon to the neck. I would suspect that he was put in a near-death state to fool me," Kakashi explained.

Kurenai nodded as she finished for him, "I see where you're going. A near-death state takes one week to heal. Plus battle injuries. I would say 4 or 5 days?"

"Yes. I thought so, too. During this time, I was hoping that I would train my genin team in tree walking to help them," Kakashi said in a lazy tone.

Kurenai huffed, but she had already spent her anger mostly. "Fine, but know this, you better bring your team up to speed soon. You're stunting their growth if you don't teach them properly."

Kakashi just sighed, "Mah, Mah. You have your ways of teaching them, and so do I."

"And yet, they didn't even know tree walking, something required of _all_ jounin sensei to teach in the first week," Kurenai said. She continued to rant on about how Kakashi had screwed up in delaying their teaching.

Shino looked over to Fumei to see him signing. _Must be sensei time of the month._

Hinata just sighs, knowing it was true, while Shino signed back. _It is 9__th__ day._

–

End Third Sense: Scentless...


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I hope to learn brainwashing someday. I could make Naruto mine in a second, and much better! Sadly, that is a dream for the far future, and as such I don't own that piece of shit anime.

Fourth Sense: Sound

_The sense of hearing. Located in your ears. This sense takes up only 10% of our attention at any given time unless we humans really focus on it. This sense will also lose attention as we focus on other senses. This sense has the longest individual memory span. A few seconds. This sense is the sense we use the most to communicate verbally with. It also has the highest potential to help learn about the world around you. _

The sound of footsteps woke the lone figure in the clearing.

–

Haku moved through the woods slowly. Pickling up herbs one after another for her precious one. As she moved forward to pick a rare herb, she noticed that she had entered a clearing. Picking up the herb and putting it in her basket, she saw a lone dark figure laying against the tree. The figure was hunched over and seemingly asleep.

She moved over to the figure and reached out to his shoulder to shake him awake. Before her hand even came close, another hand had encircled her wrist. "Who are you?"

The deep voice made Haku blink in surprise. He was sort of small, almost like a young teenager. But his voice said otherwise. "Sorry, I was about to wake you. No one should be sleeping in these woods. You'll get a cold."

The young male let her wrist go. "It's alright. I've never been sick before. Now, please answer my question."

"Oh, sorry. I'm Haku. Who are you?" At her name, the figure relaxed somewhat. He turned his head under his hood towards her and spoke softly.

"Ishiki Fumei."

Haku stood their for a moment. "Senseless?"

Fumei chuckled. "You're the first person to guess right. Most people tend to say 'unknown stone tree'."

Hakue put the name together in her head. "Yeah, I could see it like that."

"So, what are you doing out here, Haku-san," Fumei asked as he pointed at her hand.

"Oh," Haku looked down to her basket, "I was gathering herbs."

"For who?"

Haku smiled, "My precious person."

"Precious person?"

Haku nodded as she hummed in an affirmative.

There was a silent moment as they both stood up. Fumei moved his head to her general direction. "What is a precious person?"

Haku stood in thought for a moment. "A precious person... is someone you care for. Who you will live and die for. Someone who has made you laugh, someone who has given you a purpose in life beyond just merely existing." She paused before asking, "Do you have a precious person, Ishiki-san?"

Instead of answering, Fumei moved passed her and over to a spot in the clearing. He kneeled down to pick up a small herb. He twisted it in his hands before walking back to her. He put the herb in her basket before speaking, "I truly don't know. At one point, I would've answered with a yes without hesitation. However, I lost my way a few years ago. I don't know if I would sacrifice myself for anyone."

She noticed the Konoha hitai-ate on his arm. "Are you strong, shinobi-san?"

"I'd like to think I am. But I haven't been able to test myself against someone for a few years."

"Do you know what true strength is?"

Fumei Hummed for a moment before turning his head in her direction. "What is your true strength?"

"I believe true strength comes from having a precious person," she said as she looked down at her scarred wrist. "When they need you. When they help you through thick and thin. I only believe someone is truly strong when you protect the ones who are precious to you."

Fumei nodded his head slightly. "A good philosophy. I have seen this in the past."

Haku looked down at her basket. "Could you help me get some more herbs? I still need quite a few."

Fumei nodded and they both began to work in a comfortable silence. After an hour, "I believe this is enough." Fumei put the last herb in the bow filled basket.

Haku smiled. "Thank you for the help, Ishiki-san. I should get back now. He should be worried about me by now."

"I guess I'll see you later, Haku-san," Fumei said.

Haku began to walk away with a smile on her face.

"Oh, and one last thing, Haku-san," Fumei said. She turned her head to look over her shoulder. "Tell Momochi Zabuza that the 'black jacket kid' said hi."

Haku's eyes widened, but before she could react, a gust of wind made her cover her eyes to keep debris from getting in them. When she opened her eyes again the young soldier was gone.

–

Shino really enjoyed his day. There were bugs everywhere. All with different qualities in them that he could bring home to update his clan's hive. He had been at this for hours today, and he felt relaxed.

After the one-sided yelling match between the two sensei, Kurenai had given her team the day off to rest from running all yesterday to catch up with the other team.

Of course, this day could only get better under one condition.

"SASUKE-KUN. You're soooo coool!"

And that condition should now be obvious.

The other team had been practicing in the area where he had located the main nest to be. To be honest, he was fixing to stuff that craw of hers with bugs. No wait that would be to cruel to his bugs. Have to find an alternative solution.

Hinata had stayed in the house to be guard for the family while Fumei had gone out on his own into the woods to train a little. Kurenai had gone with the bridge builder. All of team 7 and sensei were currently in the same clearing with him.

Maybe he should've stayed inside with Hinata today.

–

"Good, you're back. What took you so long," a deep voice asked.

"Sorry, Zabuza-sama. I had a talk with an old friend of yours," Haku answered as she put her herbs down in the floor next to the bed and sat beside it.

Zabuza carefully sat up. "Oh, and who would that be?"

Haku's smile was soft as she said, "The kid in the black jacket said 'hi'."

Zabuza's eyes widened. "Kuro no Heishi?"(Black Soldier)

Haku nodded.

Zabuza chuckled. "Well, well. I had heard he was going by a new name now. What was it?"

"Ishiki Fumei."

"Senseless. I should've known the brat would pick something like that," Zabuza shook his head. "I also heard that he had gone off the grid."

Haku nodded, "I would assume that was because I saw a Konoha hitai-ate on his arm."

Zabuza laughed a bit. "Well, I guess that answers the question I've had in my head for a while now."

"Zabuza-sama?"

"I have a gut feeling that Gato will betray us. I didn't know if the money would be worth it or not. It is a lot of money. Now, though, the money's not worth it; not with that kid on their side. He earned the named of Kuro no Heishi for a reason," Zabuza said as he thought of a memory. He shivered somewhat. "That, and I do have a life debt for when the kid saved me."

"What do you mean, Master," the girl asked in a confused voice.

"Well, it begins like this..."

–

Fumei calmly walked back to the house. Despite all the metal he was wearing on his limbs and the trench coat over his body, not a single sound was made as he walked. She also noted that the trench coat didn't move much.

Or so Hyuuga Hinata thought as she sat on the front steps to the house. She couldn't help but wonder who he was, and why he seemed to only relax around when around her and the other two team members of team 8.

Over the nearly four months the team has been together, neither Shino or her have seen what he looks like. Preferring to wear the hood up at all times, the upper half of his face always remains in the shadows, despite lighting. The lower half is always covered up.

Hinata had once tried to see past the hood and mask, only for the chakra flowing through his head to blur any image she could get.

For all intents and purposes, if he were to walk out in broad daylight without any of his normal clothes on he would be able to walk around under a completely different name. Maybe that was why?

Fumei walked up and sat beside her. "So, what do you think of what Hatake-san said last night," he asked nonchalantly.

Hinata looked out to the forest before signing. _I think they'll be attacking the bridge tomorrow morning. If what Scarecrow said was true, then we'll probably be taking on his partner._

Fumei sat for a moment before signing back. _I thought that as well. I have something to talk about. We need Shino here as well._

Hinata activated her Byakugan. She searched until she saw the clearing in which team 7 was practicing. Walking back towards the house was Shino. _He's on his way back now._

Fumei and Hinata sat in comfortable silence until Shino walked up to the house. _You called?_ He signed before sitting down on Hinata's other side.

Fumei nodded before signing. _Yes. Tomorrow morning, we'll most likely encounter one Momo-chi Za-bu-za. Signed as Femur. Femur is someone I know back when I was a merc-nin._

Hinata and Shino both shared a look before staring at Fumei again. Hinata signed quickly. _How do you know him?_

_I know him because I saved his life once._ Fumei sighed before speaking aloud, "Back when I was still a small time merc-nin, I met him when we were hired to protect a taravan going from a small village in south Cha no Kuni to the borders of Amegakure's country. Femur called me a 'wet behind the ears' kid." Fumei chuckled lightly. "Just a week and a half into the the travel we were attacked by a full team of Kirigakure's oinin. Most of them were on par with chuunin, but one seemed to be of higher rank. While some of the other merc-nin and I dispatched the weaker ones, the stronger of them attacked him directly. After I got rid of the last one I noticed that he was having trouble."

_Flashback_

_Zabuza ducked under a high kick. He brought his sword up in a low arc to try and bisect the oinin through the body. The body turned out to be an illusion as the sword went straight through._

_Not even pausing, he brought his arm full circle to stop a tanto to the neck with the hilt of his sword. "Cheeky little bastards, aren'tcha? Well," Zabuza pushed the other man back with his strength, "it has been getting boring recently."  
><em>

_The oinin didn't bother to answer as it jumped back to avoid a kunai thrown by the swordsman's other hand. The oinin brought up a hand and started to do quick one handed hand signs._

"_Like hell," Zabuza rushed forward and brought his zanbato down on the oinin's head with full force. The sword cut through an illusion. "What?"_

_A kick to the man's chin was his only answer. Zabuza backed up quickly and brought his sword up to guard. Zabuza had some cuts and bruises all over his arm. On the other hand, so did the oinin as blood was seeping through the clothes where it was cut._

_What stopped Zabuza cold was the fact that the oinin looked like he had finished doing hand signs. A hum of energy filtered into the air as the oinin disappeared from Zabuza's sight._

_Zabuza looked around quickly, but pain arched through his back as a large cut appeared along his spinal column. Amazingly, Zabuza still stood his ground. Zabuza tried to dispell the genjutsu with his chakra but the moment he brought his right hand up, another cut appeared on his arms. Zabuza grunted in pain as he tried to finish the dispelling. Once done, his only reward was a fist to his head._

_Zabuza fell back._

_Pain filled his vision as the oinin stepped on his chest. He spoke for the first time, "Momochi Zabuza. For the attempted assassination of the Yondaime Mizukage. You are sentenced to death." The oinin brought his tanto above his head. And struck down._

–

"But Zabuza-sama, how did you survive," Haku asked. She was leaning forward like a child eager to hear the end of a story.

Zabuza chuckled. "I was saved at the last moment."

_The man's tanto was kicked to the side an inch above Zabuza's neck. At the same time a fist with iron plated knuckles rammed into the side of the oinin's head. The same hand caught the oinin's upper arm and pulled back. A knee to the stomach was delivered and the man's momentum was shifted upward as the air left him. At the peak of the uplift, duel hands were brought down on his back producing a loud sickly cracking sound. The oinin landed in a small crater next to Zabuza. This all happened in less then a second._

_Zabuza looked up to see the black jacket kid from before standing over the now crippled for life shinobi. "You alright, demon of the mist?"_

End flashback

"That mask I gave you is the same one worn by the man Kuro took out," Zabuza finished.

–

"So after that you became friends," Shino asked.

Fumei shook his head. "Not really. I kinda mocked him with that last line. After that we had a small rivalry. He challenged me to a duel, and we fought. Of course, this was after we had gotten our payment for the completed mission. I won the duel, and he sort of accepted me because of it."

–

"During the duel, did you find out what his fighting style of like," Haku asked.

Zabuza nodded. "Yes, and if I had to sum it up in one word: Efficient. He doesn't move in a poetic fashion you'd find in one of those fancy romance novels or bad fanfics. No, he only moves when he needs to. Every move he uses can either stun you or cripple you, and each move is planned out much farther ahead then you would think someone could. I once saw him take out an entire squad of kumo chunin once." Zabuza shivered. "He even killed a man in one move and right in the smack dab middle of the fight. The chunin just ran up and... sort of died. Yeah, I can cleave a man in half with one swing of my sword, but to do that with your bare fists." He shook his head. "That's on a skill level even I don't have."

–

"So, after you won the duel, how did you become friends," Shino asked.

"Well, we went on multiple missions together after that. We talked, and fought some more, keeping them down to light spares only. At some point, we were starting to trust each other a bit more then usual. We eventually gave each other a main way to contact the other. During one of those missions, he talked about his apprentice he left at one of his safe houses to train. The girl went by the name of Haku.. I assume this same apprentice is the one who is his partner now," Fumei explained.

Shino sat for a moment before speaking, "So what do we do?"

–

"Haku, I want you to go back out and somehow get in contact with Kuro tonight. Tell him we'll pull a double cross and do just like we did to the... 'cattle' back in Iron country," Zabuza smirked beneath his mask.

–

"Knowing Zabuza, He'll somehow get in contact with me by tomorrow morning with some sort of plan of action. After that, we'll act. If not, then we go to the bridge and assume he'll be attacking or siding with us," Fumei said. "We'll know through his first move. If he does attack, we'll quickly work together to knock out his apprentice, then move in to help the jounin take out Zabuza."

–

"You understand," Zabuza asked.

"Yes, master." Haku paused. "Zabuza-sama?"

"Yes?"

"What is a fanfic?"

–

That night

Both teams, along with Tazuna and his family, were sitting around the main dining room of Tazuna's house.

Kakashi spoke after everyone had eaten dinner. "Three days from now, I suspect that we'll be attacked by Zabuza and his partner." His three genin tensed while Kurenai's sat still. "When the attack does happen, I want Sasuke and Kiba to attack the fake hunter nin while Kurenai and I will take out Zabuza. Team 8 and Sakura will guard Tazuna."

"I have a better strategy, Hatake-san." Everyone turned to Fumei. "How about, we attack, while yours defends."

Kakashi eye smiled. "Now why would we do that? Sasuke here needs some experience taking on tough opponents. And he is from the elite clan."

"Because knowing Zabuza, we'll be fighting on a bridge filled with mist. Now, your team might have Kiba on it, who can track, but his nose will do little good with all that water in the air," Fumei stated. "Sasuke, on the other hand, has little to no tracking skills. He'll be worthless and blind out there."

Sasuke bristled while Kakashi narrowed his eye. "And how do you know Zabuza?"

"I fought him before in a duel," was the simple answer. It was a fact, but not the whole truth. "While your team may be a first strike, we're a track and ambush squad; we work well in those conditions."

Sasuke could handle no more. "Who are you, some low life nobody, to call me, an Uchiha, worthless!"

"A nobody that fought and beat Momochi Zabuza in a straight all out duel," was the calm answer.

At that both Kurenai and Kakashi's eyes widened. Kakashi spoke first, "Well, Ishiki-san here is an A-ranked merc-nin. I had heard something about that on the rumor mill, but I disregarded it."

"So, that just means that Zabuza is weak," Sasuke said with a smirk.

Fumei snorted and countered, "Yeah, and Kakashi here didn't beat you and bury you in the ground."

Sasuke started fuming wonder how the 'nobody' knew that when Sakura came to his rescue. "Hey, don't talk to Sasuke like that! You should respect your betters, nobody!"

All three of team silent cringed as she yelled. Fumei stood up and walked over to the pink haired girl. He grabbed the front of her shirt and picked her up. "Howler monkey, unless you're spoken to, **shut up**." The last words came out at a near growl.

He dropped the girl back into her chair and sat back down next to Hinata.

Meanwhile, Sakura was shaking like a leaf in the wind. "F-fo... f-ff-... n-n-n..." and then passed out landing roughly on the ground. Large thunk sound and all.

Kakashi glared at Fumei, "What did you do to my student?"

"Oh shut up, Scarecrow. We all know you only care about duck butt here. Besides, all I did was aim a small amount of my killer intent at her," Fumei said.

Kakshi glared, but he knew he couldn't do anything. Officially, killer intent didn't exist as an actual skill, so it does not count as an attack on her person.

Kurenai stepped in at that moment. "I agree with my students on this one, Kakashi-san. They would do better in the mist."

Kakashi sighed, "Alright, we'll do it your way."

"Why do you guys even try," a small voice asked.

Everyone turned to the small boy.

"What was that, kid," Kiba asked.

"I said, Why do you even try? Why? You can't beat Gato. He's unbeatable," the kid declared.

"Inari," his mom admonished.

"It's true, mom! They'll die out there. Gato's too strong! He'll beat everyone here and-"

Inari was interrupted by the sound of chuckling. Fumei spoke up, "Kid, you couldn't be farther from the truth. The man may have a lot of money, but he's physically weaker then Tsunami-san here. Money, strength does not make."

"And what would you know," the kid yelled back. "You come here, acting all high and mighty. Coming from a comfortable life style. You probably don't know what it's like to suffer. What it's like to lose loved ones. You probably haven't even starved a day in your life! You don't know what it's like to watch your the people around you grow tired and weak under the oppression of a ruler with an iron fist!"

The atmosphere grew dark around many of the ninja in the room. Fumei spoke quietly as he walked forward towards the kid. No one noticed that his footsteps didn't make a sound. "Duck butt here lost his entire family in one day. Aburame-san's entire family is shunned by the general public for their particular life-style. Hatake-san lost his dad at an early age and basically had to grow up all by himself. He's also the last one alive from the original team he was assigned to. I lost everything at a young age and had to survive in the woods all by myself," Fumei paused to let that info sink in.

He kneeled in front of the kid. "You may have had a few hard days, but you are far from a hard life. You still have a roof over your head. You still have a mother and grandfather to take care of you. Yet here you are, festering and growing stale with self-pity and hate. But you want to know something? Do you see me wallowing in my past? No. I got up and moved on. I got stronger so that I wont ever lose anything ever again. That is my definition of true strength. To protect what you hold dear in life. Maybe you should do that kid. Your mother may need a strong man to help around the house when your old man gets to old to move around someday." With that Tazuna and Tsunami chuckled despite the atmosphere.

Fumei stood up and walked to the door. In a calm and airy voice, "I think I'll sleep outside tonight. The moon is nearly full, and it is quite beautiful."

The rest of the group sat in thought about what Fumei had said. Inari walked back to his room. Something about that speech struck a chord of memories of his father-like figure, Kaiza. He wanted to protect everything he had with his arms.

–

Fumei sighed in content as he soaked in the moon's light. He may be blind, but he could still 'see' how the moon baths everything in a milky light aura. The fuller the moon, the more relaxing it is.

And more importantly, the easier it is to 'see' other auras against the milky white background.

"Hello, Haku-san," Fumei stated with a smile in his voice.

Said person walked out from behind a tree from behind him. "Hello, Kuro no Heishi."

"I haven't answered to that title in quite some time. And from the way you say it, Zabuza told you the reason behind the title," Fumei stated and asked.

"Yes he did, I only knew the title at first from how Zabuza said you could be a good ally but now..." Haku walked a bit closer. "I was told by my master to give you a message."

"Oh," Fumei turned around so his head would be looking in her general direction. "And what would that message be."

"'Double Cross and do what you did to the cattle in Iron country'," Haku said. "I don't know what exactly that means, but I think it does mean we're on your side."

Fumei went over it in his mind and smiled a bit. A soft chuckle escaped his lips. "Yes, that's exactly what it means. Tell him to pull an act until I give him the signal."

Haku bowed, "I will do so, Kuro-sama." She walked back into the shadows and dashed off into the woods.

"... Since when was I a 'sama'?"

–

The next morning.

Both teams were at the bridge along with Tazuna. Kurenai looked back to her team. On a gut feeling, Fumei left two solid clones back at the house. Kakashi had asked how the kid knew shadow clone, and his only answer was, "It's amazing what you can buy on the black market for the right price."

When they reached the bridge, a dense fog had enveloped the bridge. It was hard to see beyond several meters, but they could all make out prone bodies of Tazuna's workers.

A deep chuckle echoed. "Well, look who we have here. Kakashi we meet once again. And I see you brought in back-up. Yuuhi Kurenai, the Genjutsu Mistress. And Kuro no Heishi, the most infamous merc-nin on the block. Or should we call you by your new name now, Ishiki Fumei of the leaf. I see you brought your genin with you. That'll make this more pleasant. For my partner that is."

Suddenly they were surrounded by four Zabuzas. One of them pointed at Sasuke. "Oh look, he's shaking. Heh, are you scared, twirp?"

"I'm not shaking in fright. I'm shaking in anticipation!"

"Sasuke, do it," Kakashi said.

Sasuke smirked.

A flash of movement later, and all four were cut down.

Fumei shook his head and signed something to his teammates.

–

_I want you two to take on his partner. She will not kill you, but she will make it hurt for messing up. Back off when I give you the signal we talked about this morning._ Fumei signed. Hinata nodded her head while Shino gave an affirmative. _Knowing Uke, he will be attacking her with you. Along with Kiba._

Hinata looked over to Kiba. Strangely enough, he's been quiet the entire mission. Well, at least he wasn't bothering her.

After some more banter between Kakashi and Zabuza, each shinobi went off to their own part of the bridge to do their own battles.

Sakura and Fumei stood near Tazuna. Kurenai, Kakashi and Zabuza to the far end of the bridge. In the middle was Haku versus Kiba, Hinata, Sasuke, and Shino.

–

End Fourth Sense: Soundless


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Well now here we are again. Once more telling you I don't own Naruto. I would bring pain down upon Naruto's enemies with a bad-ass Naruto, but sadly, Masashi Kishimoto owns the series and Naruto is a dipwad.

This chapter is dedicated to my recently deceased HDD.

There was a catastrophic hardware failure, and the drive would not spin up fast enough to load windows. I re-installed windows onto one of my other drives and reconnected the old HDD after unsealing the vacuum and fixing some of the burnt out connections as best I could and replaced the dead chip set with one from one of my older HDDs. It sounded painful, but it spun up, just barely. I quickly prioritized data to be moved, during which the drive could barely hold on. After the final bit of data, over 2 million words from my fanfiction folder included, was moved to my slightly younger HDD, I heard one last sputter, the sound of a scratch happening from a damaged reader and a dieing motor. Then silence filled the room.

Rest In Peace HDD number 3, you've earned your place along side numbers 1 and 2. HDD number 5 will carry your honor in your place...

Fifth sense: Pain

_The sense of internal wrongness. Located in the brain. This sense is inactive until a pain higher then we are used to is inflicted on us. This sense has no relative memory as it does not have its own individual sense. Instead, all of it goes to short term memory and stored in long term memory immediately. This sense is used to tell when something wrong is happening in the body and tells the brain as such. We only really feel the pain in our brain. As such, we can learn to suppress it until only the most vital of injuries are noted or when we notice our injuries._

Pain filled Sasuke's mind as the senbon stuck into him at varies places and angles.

The battle had gone to hell after they had started. He had engaged the fake hunter-nin directly. After a few short swings, the Hyuuga girl had intercepted a swing at his head.

When she was using one handed hand signs in a draw, Shino made her back off using his swarm of bugs. Kiba charged with his fang-over-fang technique and missed. He didn't have enough room to really use it wisely, so he canceled it before landing on his feet. Akamaru attacked before the hunter-nin could get its barrings again. However, the nimble ninja once more avoided it and then threw senbon at all four of them before charging Sasuke.

Sasuke hopped to the side to doge the senbon, but before he could do anything else, he had to block the senbon strike with his kunai. The hunter-nin took out a spare senbon and threw it at Hinata who was charging.

Hinata brought out a whip and struck the needle out of the air. She lashed out at the fake hunter with the new weapon. Haku jumped back out of her range while launching several needles into the air.

Shino blocked the senbon with his shuriken and ordered his bugs to attack. From the oinin's other side, Kiba was charging with claws and his dog, Akamaru, copying the movements as Kiba's clone.

Hinata continued her charge as Sasuke pulled out a spare kunai and prepared to stab her hand.

When Kiba and Akamaru's claws made contact first the oinin turned into a puddle of water. Sasuke lost his balance, Kiba and his dog fell over themselves, Hinata stopped as quickly as she could. Shino's bugs got wet.

"**Hijutsu: ****Makyō Hyōshō." **a voice called out in the mist, and all four were now stuck in a dome of mirrors that looked to be made of crystals.

The fake oinin's figure appeared in one of the mirrors. "Admirable ability in fighting me, genin of Konohagakure, but this is where it ends." Her decidedly feminine voice said as she held up three senbon in each hand.

The four in the center of the formation of mirrors could do little but hope to deflect the senbon long enough for them to formulate a plan.

Now though, they just hoped to be alive after this is over.

"This doesn't look good," Shino spoke.

"Gee, ya think," Kiba said in a sarcastic tone.

Sasuke gasped as another senbon entered his body. Hinata huffed in pain as she was hit again. Akamaru wined as a senbon struck his body.

Sasuke looked around. It looked like he wouldn't be able to accomplish his dream. A senbon struck his chest. His vision started to dim. He only wanted to...

–

Hinata looked to her right to see that Sasuke had collapsed to the ground pushing some of the needles in his chest and stomach even further in.

She signed as best she could with her left hand, the one that didn't have a needle going through the palm. _Emo. Down._

Shino signed back, though it took some effort. _Don't worry. She. will not. kill us._

She used her Byakugan to see both of Shino's shoulder were hit in a way to disable them. It was a miracle that he could even move his hands.

She nodded. However, inside her mind, she was distraught. She thought she had gotten stronger, smarter, faster. How was she supposed to look for _him_ and keep her promise to her secret crush if she couldn't even protect herself?

It's not like it even mattered though. The one she made the promise about had...

They both felt a large flare of chakra. Not just anyone's though. It was Fumei's. The mist lifted from the battlefield.

–

The two jounin calmly stood in the center of the mist. Both had some blood on their clothes.

Kurenai's genjutsu was decidedly unusable in this mist as their enemy had already blinded himself. Unless she had direct eye contact, she couldn't make a usable genjutsu work either.

Kakashi swiped the blood from his chest and pulled out a scroll. "It's time for us to finish this."

They both felt a chakra flare from Fumei go up.

"Shit, Zabuza went for Tazuna," Kurenai quickly concluded.

"Wait. Feel the chakra again," Kakashi said calmly.

The fog slowly let up as everyone on the bridge could see again.

Zabuza had pulled his headband up and was looking towards Fumei. "Where is he Kuro?"

Neither jounin knew who he was talking to until Fumei spoke up. "At the unfinished end of the bridge. Look behind you, Zabuza-san."

All parties looked to the general location to see an short man standing before an army of bandits.

"Well, well. Look what we have here. Still living shinobi. Some demon you are, Zabuza. You're like a baby demon!" The man laughed.

"Gato. I knew you were going to double cross us. So I had a plan all set up for ya," Zabuza said.

Gato smirked. "Yeah, and your plan means SHIT against my small army of bandits here. Hell, this whole army cost less then paying for you and your weak whore of an apprentice there." Gato laughed again.

All of the shinobi there sweat dropped. The short man did realize that a single jounin could wipe out that army by himself... right?

"Alright boys. Whoever brings me the heads of the guys gets a bonus. Also whoever manages to capture the girls alive gets double the money. Those girls look too sweet not to put in my brothels."

As soon as the last word left Gato's mouth a large amount of killer intent was focused on him from several parties. i.e. everyone conscious and shinobi except for Sakura.

Even Kiba felt some anger when the man said that.

Fumei, however, wasn't beside Tazuna. No he was already behind the army. "Zabuza, now!"

Both men jumped forward to engage the many enemies from both sides.

The Konoha Shinobi looked on in morbid fascination. Zabuza was doing what he did best. Using his giant ass sword to cut droves of men down in a single swing. However, what brought on the fascination was Fumei. He was a blur. Moving from bandit to rogue in quick precise movements. His hands moved too fast to see correctly. He was even killing men that were coming at him from behind. But what mattered most what that all of his movements seemed to flow from one to the next. As if he had calculated long ago what move he was going to do next even before the enemy came close to him. No wasted movement. No dramatic punches or sweep kicks. Just efficient one hit one kill maneuvers.

When all was said and done in a mere 13 seconds, Gato lifted his head from under a dead bandit only to see Zabuza standing before him. The rouge nin picked up Gato by the collar of his neck and looked back to the two Konoha jounin. "I'm not attacking you anymore. Hell, I've got plenty of money now through this little man to fund my conquest on Kirigakure. Come Haku."

Haku appeared by his side.

Zabuza turned back to look at Fumei. "It's been fun, Kuro no Heishi, Black Soldier. Maybe we can duel again sometime. It seems you've only gotten stronger." Both ninja disappeared via a fog shunshin.

No one moved. The carnage was great, but the old man had tears on the edge of his eyes.

"Hey!" a kid's voice called out. Everyone, but Sakura who was cooing for the not-dead Sasuke, turned to see an army of villagers. "Are we too late?"

Tazuna laughed as everyone else smiled. They had been attacked by a cold demon, but it turned out, the demon was on their side in the end.

–

Fumei moved through the night air with ease that would made snakes go green with envy. He had left a clone with the bridge mission satisfied that the clone wouldn't pop before it came home. If it did, he could always send another.

Right now though, today was his birthday, and the young man remembered this day many years ago. How he had gotten a small present.

How the same present had been crushed by invaders.

How the old man smiled at him and congratulated him for making another year.

How he had found out that the old bastard had set everything up.

He smiled a lot that morning...

But that night he lost his sight.

Now it was time for a little warm up pay back. Underneath his mask a cruel smile began to form.

–

A few days Later...

"Hokage-sama!"

"Report," the Hokage told the Tiger masked ANBU in front of him.

"Sir, there has been 15 more incidents, all with the same pattern as before."

"Damn, that makes this 324 so far. How the hell is our security so lacking," the Hokage growled.

The ANBU started to sweat a little. "H-Hokage-sama, we're looking into it. We have our entire tracking division looking but nothing comes up. No sightings. No smells. No chakra traces... Nothing! It's like this guy is a ghost."

"What do you mean no chakra traces? Our best sensors are currently employed in the ANBU. How could they not pick up leftover traces? Unless," The Hokage grumbled for a bit. "Unless the culprit sets up these traps ahead of time, but that's impossible for one man to do, and multiple men would've been seen by now, especially with how accurate these have been. The only explanation is that this guy is an S-ranked stealth infiltrator, but the only one currently confirmed alive at the moment is Jiraiya."

The Hokage mulled over it for a bit. "Increase our patrols for now. Double the standard situation. Someone is making a mockery of Konoha, and this perpetrator needs to be brought down. Hard."

"Yes, Hokage-sama!"

The old man turned around as the ANBU disappeared. He stood up to look over the village.

What a complete freakin' mess.

–

"We're here to open the new bridge, Bridge of Wave Country!" Tazuna yelled out as the crowd cheered. Behind him stood his daughter, grandson and all of the Konoha shinobi who were all smiling for different reasons.

It had taken less then a week to finish the bridge. Because Gato was dead, more people came and helped lighten the workload for the specialist. Over the small week, tensions rose between team 7 and team 8.

…

Okay, it was more like Sasuke started to hate team 8 more while Sakura followed along. Kiba seemed to back off whenever Fumei was around and didn't talk much to him. Team 8 in the meantime completed ignored Sasuke and his fangirl.

A small rivalry appeared between Kiba and Shino during the week as well. Turns out, the two got along pretty well. They spared, jibed, and even talked when they were too tired to move. Kiba's taijutsu grew exponentially as he an Shino shared information. Kiba and Akamaru both learned how to use their claws to grapple and place more damage on their opponents before backing off. Shino in return learned the Inuzuka claw style, which it was meant to be used in beast mode, went well with Shino's style. He learned how to put bugs on the tip of his fingers and they would in turn attach the moment Shino made a clawing motion. While their training in these areas were incomplete as they only had a few days, they had agreed to meet each other after team practice to continue training.

Hinata, however, was still curious about the black enigma. Kuro no Heishi. Black Soldier. More specifically, the kind of soldier that used to server the old daimyos from long ago. Does that mean her teammate was connected to a Daimyo somehow?

Hinata was stirred from her thoughts as the bridge builder continued.

"Gato is gone, our country is free, and we all have to thank Konohagakure for protecting us!"

The crowd cheered again as a party started on the whole of the bridge. Tazuna turned around. "Are you sure you have to leave so soon?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, but if we don't get back soon we'll have to explain why we're late, and well, our superiors wouldn't be happy with 'partying' for the reason."

Fumei spoke, "Let us all take a moment and think of the irony of what Kakashi just said."

Kakashi sweat dropped. "I'm not that bad, am I?"

They all deadpanned in response.

"R-right, anyways we gotta get going. Good-bye, Tazuna-san. If you ever need to hire someone think of Konoha."

With that they all took off in the direction of their beloved, clean, and all around whole and peaceful village.

–

"What. The. Fuck?" Akamaru barked in agreement with his owner.

Shino couldn't have said it better himself. He could only describe the scene in front of him as chaos incarnate.

A multiple color feathered guard walked up to the two traveling teams that were stopped in place. "Please state your names and show your ninja registration please."

The two teams silently handed their papers over as the Jounin handed the mission papers in as well. When Kakashi, who was last, handed his papers over he had to ask, "What the hell happened? It looks like Konoha got in fight with a circus... and lost."

The Guard chuckled. "Ah, that's an understatement," the chunin guard said as he placed the papers on top of his work space, which was a sleeping hippo. Underneath the hippo, broken pieces of wood could be seen... which explained where the stand had been.

"Why are you laughing," Sakura asked. "You look like a feather pillow was opened on you and then hit you with a lot of paint balls."

The guard chuckled some more. "because my dear naïve genin, I'm probably one of the few to make it through a prank with the least amount of mental scarring."

"Huh," was Kiba's intelligent response. The two Jounins started to survey their surroundings. They had to admit some of it looked funny.

"Think about it, kid. I'm just a normal gate guard, think about how bad some of the others got hit?" He shivered. "Yeah, I'm gonna stay here, where it's safe."

Shino and Hinata noticed that Fumei held up a hand and he started to count down from three fingers.

"Anyways, you might as well go turn in your mission report."

Two fingers.

"Thanks," Kakashi replied. "We'll do that. Come on genin, we have to turn in our first C-ranked mission report. Maybe bump it up to an A."

One finger.

Kakashi took one step in the direction of the tower when a bucket filled with something landed on his head. As the man tried to get it off, a loud noise was heard.

Shino was glad he had sunglasses, though he thought to quickly cover Hinata's eyes. She was still somewhat innocent... maybe.

"KAKASHI, MY RIVAL! WELCOME BACK FROM YOUR MISSION!"

The next few seconds were a blur, but somehow it ended up with a naked man humping Kakashi from behind.

Kurenai was pale and she, too, put her hand over Hinata's eyes.

Fumei was on the ground either heaving from the sight, laughing too hard, or crying for his innocence, Shino never really figured it out. Maybe it was a combination of the three? Fumei was also mumbling about super glue and the correct ratio of humiliation or something between breathes.

The chunin nearby was looking the other way, as if somehow already expecting this.

Shino looked away, and left the jounin to his fate, and pulled both his teammates and his sensei away from the scene.

If Shino were to look back, he would've seen Kiba attempting to gouge out his eyes while Akamaru was stopping that action, Sakura with a small nose bleed, and Sasuke watching with a morbid fascination.

–

"Team 8 reporting mission success, Hokage-sama," Kurenai stated, while still a little pale.

Hinata, for some reason, was in a dreamy state, though no one could figure out why. Fumei was shivering either from laughter or from nausea. Shino had fun keeping his lunch down.

The old man sighed. Near his desk were a pile of burning books that had two men dancing around it trying to ward off evil. Their chanted "Icha. Icha" over and over as they danced. When Shino took a closer look he saw the symbol for yoai on the front cover of one of them.

Ignoring the dancing men, the Hokage looked back to the team. "Well done, team 8. Please turn in a report for later review. I have too much paperwork to do, and not enough time. The village, as you have no doubt seen is in total chaos, and we may have to cancel missions in the near future to keep more jounin on patrol routes. A rouge element has been plaguing the village for the last week and a half. It started on October twelfth and has been non-stop ever since. The rouge element has been named 'the prank master' by our forces. We're down some men as they have been hospitalized for mental and physical scarring." The old man paused. "Err, where is team 7?"

"Um," Kurenai paled as she thought about what happened. "The prank master happened to team 7."

The Hokage suddenly banged his head on the desk with enough force to crack the wood. He lifted his head up to look back at Kurenai. "Does that have anything to do with the loud screaming I heard just a few minutes ago?" A trail of blood flowed down from his forehead.

They nodded.

The old man sighed. "You're dismissed. Oh, and watch out for traps. Kurenai, report to ANBU HQ for your patrol route."

–

Fumei walked into the forest and was laughing evilly. "Stage one complete."

–

End Fifth Sense: Painless


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: (Cries)

Also, A/N; the lullaby mentioned... look up fable 2 music box. Series was crap, but the music box... The two guitars one sounds nice. Fable 2 - Music Box (on two guitars)

This chapter was a pain from beginning to end... I don't know why this one took so long to complete.

Sixth sense: Pressure(Under the Skin)

_The sense of feeling. Located under the skin. This sense takes up 2% of our attention until focused. This sense has the second shortest memory. A split second. This sense is to tell us when we are touching something. It is how our body knows when we have grasped something. Or when something is pushing against us. This sense is used to help us know when our limbs have reached their intended target. It lets us know when we have put enough pressure on something to firmly take hold of it._

Ishiki Fumei sat at a desk in his two room apartment. His hands glazing over paper documents with a blue tint surrounding them. The slight dents in the paper telling him all he needed to know through the pressure he felt.

Earlier he had raided and copied, not taken, the information in the secured sections of the village. Even the one from below the village. His pranks had been all the distraction he needed. Especially after he had his clones chain prank the Mummy's ass.

However, he currently wasn't in a very good mood. Why?

There were four files currently open to bare all of the knowledge that they had to the world. Two sets with two files each. One was from the Geezer's vault. The other from the Mummy.

To think that his parents were... that his dad did... and his mom was...

He had known, but he wanted to deny it. Now though...

Fumei slowly made a fist out of his left fingerless-gloved hand until the pressure became pain.

–

_Two men stood on a desolated battlefield filled with the ash of war and the smell of death. One man stood wearing an orange mask. The other in black clothes with a hood over his head._

"_Face it," the masked man started, "With your death, the world will finally know peace. Are you willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands to save you own life?"_

_The man in a black hood standing opposite him dipped his head a little. "No, I don't care for the world. They could all just rot."_

"_what-"_

"_To die here," the hooded man interrupted, "would mean that my freedom would be taken away... I like my freedom. I learned long ago that freedom has a price of blood, and I have more then paid my fair amount in it."_

–

_Two men stood on a desolated battlefield filled with the ash of war and the smell of death. One man stood wearing an orange mask. The other in black clothes with a hood over his head._

… _However, this time, they stood on opposite sides of the battlefield._

"_Why!? Why do you stand in my way," the masked man asked._

"_Because, weakling," the hooded man started, "you're in the way of MY plans."_

"_What," the masked man asked. "You dare call me weak? You dare get in the way for future peace?"_

_The hooded man scoffed. "Your peace is nothing but puppetry. And sooner or later, someone will break free from the strings you placed upon the world."_

"_Oh? And how would you rule the world then?"_

"_Long ago, I learned that humans crave a leader. Even if it is one that would rule with an iron fist, as long as they live together under a ruler, they will know peace." The hooded man lifted his head up. "I intend to be that leader. To rule these sheep as their wolf."_

–

Jiraiya jumped from his sleep into a sitting position. Covered in sweat.

Ever since that fateful day, five years ago, when the toads showed him the altered prophecy, he would have these recurring dreams of the two possible futures.

Before, the two possible futures for the child of prophecy were one of despair and one of hope. A student he had taught that would grow up to change the world.

Now. Jiraiya wiped the sweat from his head. Now, it no longer says that he taught the child of prophecy. Now, it says that the man would grow into one or the other.

One who does not care for the world's future. To leave it desolate and dieing. Unchanging from the wars that have always been seen and plagued the nightmares of many a men and women.

The other who wishes to rule it with a cold hand. To subvert the people of the land. To become the nightmare of which people did not dare to counter.

He stood up and went to the bathroom. As he gazed into the mirror, a thought occurred to him.

What had happened to change the destiny of one man?

–

The past few weeks have been hell for Konohagakure no sato. The Village Hidden in the Leaves. After the prank spree gone nuclear had finally finished, some form of normalcy had returned, though the scarred will never be able to completely forget their nightmares.

The rookies from all three genin teams continued to work and train. Most unaware of the dangers of the outside world.

However, one team was perfectly aware. Fumei had decided that keeping students in the dark of the dangers of the world only made them unprepared for when shit did hit the fan. So he had talked about his days as a merc-nin to his two teammates during the small break they had gotten. The hardships. The torture he witnessed and even used himself. How POWs are treated. How death, even brutal, can be a release for tormented souls.

Hinata and Shino went a little green at the descriptions. At first they wondered why he was doing this and even asked. He told them it was to prepare for the horrors of war.

"War," Shino Asked.

Fumei nodded. "Yes, I don't know exactly when, but war is looming in the distance. It's been nearly 8 years since the conflict with Kumo, and war should've broken out then. But since both nations were underpowered, they excepted the trade." Hinata looked down at that. "During this time, all 5 great nations and most of the smaller ones have been gathering power. When a large enough amount of power has gathered..."

Shino was silent as Hinata looked up with some worry.

He went on to explain more. To be prepared for anything, one must know the coming consequences.

–

Another week had pass, and the tightened security finally let up. Kurenai had called all three of them to the training field. "I hope you all were keeping up with your training schedules while we had our break. Today, we pick up where we left off before our little mission out to Wave. We're upping the training again, and hopefully make you all chuunin material." The small smile that adorned her pretty face as she said this did not make them feel any better.

But they would get through this. They were a team that helped each other. Especially, Fumei. He helped them a lot. Without Fumei to help them out and encourage them in his own silent way, they knew they wouldn't be as strong as they were.

–

Night in Konoha was a peaceful time. Due to the warm to hot days, the cool night air allowed many people to relax and reflect on the day. Shinobi and Kunoichi alike would finalize their training for the day. The ANBU silently moved through the shadows to make sure that people that are sleeping do so without a disturbance. Shop keeps close for their stores for the day. Civilians part with their friends from across the street. Young and old sit down together to share stories of the past and the unreal.

'Twas an average peaceful night for all this night.

One soul in particular did as he always does. The figure garbed in pure black with some metal silently moved to a particular tree to sleep for the night. He always liked a tree more than a bed. He always felt safer. And this tree had a special pace in his heart. It was here he heard his first lullaby. He could never find where the voice came from, but he didn't really care. The voice was always calm and serene. He missed this tree. He missed that voice.

After his first day in Konoha since he came back he almost forgot about this spot. Three days later after searching for the right tree, he finally found it. He climbed up the tree, and rested like he always had.

However, the voice never came that night. It saddened him that he would never hear it again.

He still came back to this tree, and tried to remember the entire lullaby every time. Using his nose and ears to help dig up the memory.

The beautifully haunting sound of the tune. The words soothed his hurting soul. It was what kept him sane when he was young. Going from day to day, just to listen to that beautiful voice.

_There my child, the world you see._

_Love is a strength you can behold._

_Fall to spring, it is all my gold,_

_Peace my child, all do foresee..._

Ah, those were the words. The memory was strong tonight. It was almost like someone was here, singing it for him.

_There my child, you will see our star._

_Peace is a love not far from here._

_Day to night, you can still endear._

_I love you the most by far..._

Wait a minute, someone _was_ singing it. Fumei smiled under his masked as he settled down to listen to voice. Some of the pressure on his shoulders lifted a bit. It was younger then the voice he remembered. Softer, too, but still in tune. Though the voice was sad. Like she was remembering her mother. That must be it.

The girl must be missing when her mother used to do this for her. The voice sounded like a younger version of the one who sang him to sleep when he was a child. However, the voice belonged to no one he knew.

Fumei slowly fell from the conscious world.

–

Hinata noticed that Fumei was visibly more relaxed than usual today.

It had been three weeks since Kurenai had taken control of her team again after the fiasco that was dubbed 'the 3 day nightmare'. The team was in the center of their training field, warming up for the day. Hinata noticed that she had gotten stronger and her flexibility was increasing every day. Her whip training was progressing wonderfully, and she had easily made it a part of her overall battle style.

Shino had been growing stronger as well. With his taijutsu and sealing techniques it was almost scary what the young man could do with a little time and a few of his bugs. He was much faster and a lot stealthier. She had to admit, without her Byakugan, she probably would never be able to find him.

Fumei was also letting them in on more and more of his style. The daily sparring matches of two versus one was pushing him harder and harder to not get caught. She could've sworn it was only through sheer luck that he won some of those spars. Then again, she noted, that was part of this style. To always have an out. Of course, to anyone else, it might not seem that way, but with their spars, an odd pattern was showing. Kurenai either hadn't seen it or mentioned it though. Shino had mentioned it to her at one time.

But, it was nice. He was never mean, nor did he taunt. He made sure that he was always just a bit faster than them. After each spar, he would show them what they could've done, or where they made some sort of mistake. And through each battle, they were making less and less mistakes.

Kurenai wasn't idle though. She still taught them some unique jutsu. She still made them think out and execute plans to try and capture her. She had her two on one spars as well. And she even made them do a three on one, but had asked Fumei to not use chakra. That was a tricky battle, as we had to constantly undo genjutsu after genjutsu on not only themselves, but Fumei as well. Still it amazed her that Fumei had detected all of the genjutsu, and signaled to them what each were. Even her Byakugan missed a few.

She was taken from her thoughts when she sensed Kurenai coming.

–

All three of her gennin stopped warming up when she lazily hopped down from a tree. She smiled at them. "Good morning, you three."

All three nodded back at her, their sign of "good day".

Kurenai held up her hand, in it was three papers. "Today, I have a present for you three. I decided to nominate you all into the chuunin exams that will take place right here in Konoha in one week."

Hinata's eyes widened a bit. She made a few signs and Shino spoke up, "I agree with Hinata. She asked if we were too inexperienced for this."

"Normally, yes," Kurenai started, "but for this unique situation, I decided to give you three the green light. All three of you are strong, and gaining strength at a rapid pace. Honestly, the only thing holding you back at this moment is pure experience. You can train for days, but nothing will prepare you for actual battle, as you saw back on the bridge in Wave. Another factor that came into play was that the chuunin exams were here in Konoha. It is almost always safer for home teams because of home advantage. The third factor, was that the other rookie teams were entered as well." At this her Gennin gave her their full attention. She knew what they were asking. "Yes, even Kakashi's. It was not my decision, and honestly, I think he's thrwoing them into the fire and see what comes back out. The final factor is that you have Fumei here on your team, who is not only a strong leader but powerful as well. I figured he could keep the lot of you out of trouble... or if trouble finds you he can get you out alive." Hinata and Shino nodded quietly. "The three of you will take this form, sign it and turn it in on Tuesday on week from now by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Not all of you have to take the exams, though I would recommend to go as a team. Any questions?" Silence was her answer. "Then you three are dismissed for the day to think it over. You may come and train for the next three days, but after that I recommend you rest and prepare. Have no doubt, these exams are wars. They are tough. They are merciless. They are ruthless. Gennin die every year in this test. This year will be no exception. If you are not ready, then do not show up. The fearful need not enter."

With this she shunshined away to leave her gennin to think it over.

–

The three gennin in question sat there. They turned their heads towards on another, back and forth. Slowly all three nodded. Their decision was made.

The time to test their training was soon to come.

–

Fumei slowly walked around the city. The people were happy and went about their daily lives.

He noticed a few kids from from... pink? Huh, it was Sakura. He wondered what the brats said to piss her off. When the kids turned the corner he heard a thunk and a small cry of pain. He followed after them, curious as to what was going on.

He walked around the corner and noticed Sakura staring at a guy wearing the standard puppeteer uniform from Suna. He thought it was like a cat suit, but traditions were traditions. Said guy was holding up the lead kid from the small group. Behind the puppeteer stood a kunoichi with blond hair. Fumei expanded his senses and noticed Sasuke up in the tree watching with some curiosity as well.

And then he noticed another presence heading towards them. One with a signature like his own. A Jinchuuriki. With his mind's eye he saw that the owner of the energy was..

"Hey, let go of the kid right now!" Pink haired banshee indeed.

"Hey, this kid hurt me when he rammed into me like that! I'm gonna teach this kid a lesson," the puppeteer said.

"And in the process," Fumei started, "Start a war."

"Huh? What do you mean by that," the puppeteer asked.

"Everyone in this village knows who that kid is. He is the grandson of Sarutobi Hiruzen, our third Hokage. His name is Konohamaru. Please continue now. I'm interested to know why you would want to start a war. Attacking the child or grandchild of a Kage is a serious offense," he stated. He knew that the kid wasn't known outside the village, but it did make the Suna shinobi feel a bit dumb.

A rock flew from a nearby tree and hit the hand holding Konohamaru. The kid fell to the ground, and quickly ran off to behind Fumei's legs. Fumei patted the kid's head while his two friends ran up to support him.

"Dammit, where are all these guys coming from," Kankuro asked. A few seconds earlier, there wasn't even one shinobi in sight.

Now, what would a dedicated Konoha shinobi say that this moment? "You're lucky that the nearby ANBU decided that we could take care of this little problem before it started. They wouldn't have used words. Attacking a citizen of Konoha is a surefire way to get the attention of the ninja."

"Yeah, yeah. Now I'm going to mess you up since I can't beat on the kid. All three of yo-"

"Kankuro, you're a disgrace," a gravelly voice stated. Underneath Sasuke, hanging by his chakra, stood a red haired Suna-nin.

Fumei smirked. Time to poke some fun. "That's old news. I mean, I know that he's wearing the standard uniform for puppeteers, but seriously, it looks like a cat suit to me." He was still measuring the strength of the Jinchuuriki. No doubt about it. This close his mind's eye was strong. He saw a single tail waving back and forth. Suna was said to hold the one tail in its possession. Now it's in this guy.

The blond kunoichi had to hold back some giggles from what Fumei said.

Sand swirled around the red head in a shunshin to appear next to Kankuro. Fumei turned to look at the kids, and quietly told them to run off and play somewhere else. The kids nodded and did so.

"So, I take it since you're here, that means you are part of the chuunin exams," Fumei asked as he turned back to them.

The kuoichi spoke, "Yes, we are. Are you participating as well?"

Fumei nodded. "Yes, my team and I are participating. I do not know about Sasuke and Sakura here, though."

Sakura looked lost, and Sasuke just 'hn'd.

"You," the red head started. "The black haired one, and the one in black clothes. Both of you are strong. I can feel it. I look forward to fighting you in the exams."

"What's your name," Sasuke used a sentence!

"Saaku no Gaara. And yours?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ishiki Fumei, formerly known as Kuro no Heishi."

"Kuro no Heishi. That name sounds familiar," the kunoichi started.

"Do your research sometime. It's odd how names affect those around them," Fumei spoke. "May I ask your name, Suna kunoichi?"

"Sabaku no Temari."

"Well met, Temari. I assume the last one is Sabaku no Kankuro," he asked. Temari nodded. "Well, I will see you in the exams. I want to get back to my walk. Today is a nice day." He walked away.

–

Sasuke watched Fumei walk away. He was strong, Sasuke knew that. But how strong. And what did he mean that he was formerly known as 'Black Soldier'. He turned back and watched as the red head walked away. That kid was strong as well. He could feel it.

–

Fumei looked up to the night sky as he sat in his tree branch. Tomorrow was the day of the chuunin exams. He was looking forward to it.

The days passed and his two teammates didn't back down or rethink their commitment to go to this exam. They knew of the consequences.

As the days had passed and the time grew near, the world spun on unaware of the plans of the few.

Some meant for war, some meant for peace. One to right the wrongs done to him in the past. Konoha will feel the pressure of war soon. It was only a matter of time.

–

End Sixth sense: Numbness


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: HAH! I found the secret to synthetic waterme- I mean, I don't own Naruto!

Quick last minute A/N: I don't know how you guys keep finding this series. I mean seriously, it's been -checks profile- almost fucking two and a half years... I got bored of writing for a while, m'kay? Anyways, check out Engineer4ever's profile for some good stories. I've been mostly helping him out with beta's and shit. He writes good stuff.

A/N: Those of you who complained about **Sarutobi being a bastard** and hating that, well, I got good news and bad news. Bad news is, **you lot jumped ship too soon**. Good news is, he isn't a bastard, and I'm probably being too fucking subtle with what I'm doing, but ah, well.

A/N: Those of you who complained about a possible Hinata and Naruto Pairing. I got good news and bad news(again). Good news is, Hinata and Naruto aren't fucking each other, Because PLOT LINE DICTATED IT SO, YAY!(Although, I love this pairing, personally). Bad news is, Naruto won't be paired because PLOT LINE, BOO!... or is that good news? YAY! Eh, fuckitIdon'tgiveadamn. (Seriously, I told you guys this shit earlier.)

Seventh sense: Climate(Skin)

_The sense of Temperature. Located in our skin. This sense has the second longest memory. A few seconds. This sense is used to tell us when we have changed atmospheres or when something hot or cold is nearby. This sense is also used to tell us when we have stood under the sun or when we have been out in the cold too long. This sense is useful in that we can use it to tell how the enemy is changing the area around you to their whim._

Things were getting hot in the classroom filled with the chunin hopefuls. The stress of the test coupled with the need to cheat and nearby examiners watching with a close eye.

Some students were sweating, others were weathering the heat just fine.

Fumei smirked. Some people just can't stand the heat.

–

Earlier:

The sun rose from over the horizon. Today was the day of the exam, Fumei thought as he slowly woke up. The tree felt just as good as always. He popped a few of his bones and stretched a bit to wake himself up faster.

He hopped down from the tree and walked back to his apartment.

He had a long five days ahead of him.

–

Shino stood outside of the academy. It has been six long months since they had last been here. It almost felt like a lifetime ago. Now here they were again, taking another exam to gain the next promotion.

Shino felt one of his teammates walking up, and he looked over to see Hinata. Her eyes no longer showed the shyness they once had back when she last left this building. She had matured since those days. Every now and then, he would catch a glimpse of who Hinata would be in a few years. She walked with a straighter back and her head held a little higher. Through the work of the three of them, they were slowly making Hinata come out of her shell, though she had yet to speak. Maybe she had completely forgotten how? Still, he was proud of his teammate. She was getting stronger, and he alongside her.

He nodded to her, and she nodded and smiled back. At this point Fumei walked into the front yard of the academy. He waved to them as he walked up. "Good morning you two. Are you ready?"

Shino nodded his affirmative and then looked to Hinata. Hinata looked back at the building, then to her two teammates, smiled and then walked right into the building. Shino smirked a bit behind his coat. She knew that they had her back.

As they walked up the stairs, they noticed a fight going on between Sasuke and a boy wearing green spandex. Fumei quickly signed. _Uke ass kicked in 3, 2, 1_. Sure enough, the boy was launched into the air by a solid kick to the face.

The spandex fighter appeared behind him and unwrapped his bandages.

A kunai came from the edge of the room and hit the bandage which then imbedded itself in the wall, making the boy in green hang there in mid air.

"LEE, YOU HAVE BROKEN YOUR SENSEIS RULES! ARE YOU PREPARED TO FACE HIM?" Where did that tortoise come from, Shino thought.

Lee ripped his bandage off to fall down and then kneeled to the ground, "YES!"

A puff of smoke cam from the top of the tortoise, and a man in green spandex appeared from it. "LEE, YOU HAVE DISAPPOINTED ME!"

"GAI-SENSEI, I'M SORRY!"

"Lee... you," Gai pulled his fist back, and then punched his apprentice in the cheek, "IDIOT!"

Suddenly, Fumei pulled on both of his teammates in a signal to run away. Shino didn't understand why, but followed anyways.

After a few seconds of going down the hall to the next star well they heard screaming, yelling and crying. Two types: One of sheer happiness, and another for the loss of their sanity. The sounds sent shivers down their spines. Hinata and Shino looked at Fumei with some gratitude for saving them from that.

Still, Shino wondered why the one in green spandex never used his chakra externally.

–

"I'm glad you three made it," Kurenai said as they approached the room for the first exam. "If you came alone, or there were only two of you, I would've had to turn you back."

Shino nodded, "We figured that to be the truth. And no, it did not change how we thought about it. All three of us know we are ready to attempt the next level, thanks to you and Fumei."

The other two gennin gave a nod in agreement to Shino's statement.

Kurenai eyed each of them, then smiled. "Good. Keep together. Numbers matter in this exam."

With their nods in understanding, Kurenai stepped to the side as the three gennin walked inside the room.

Kurenai knew they were ready. She just wanted to make sure they had the confidence to do so. She smiled when she saw that Hinata was the most determined of the group. She would be an unstoppable force in the future.

–

When the three entered the room, they were immediately blasted with killer intent. Though nowhere near as much as Fumei put Hinata and Shino under to train them.

The three looked around unhindered by the killer intent, and found a spot off to the side.

Shino noted that the ino-shika-cho team version two was already here. He also noted when Lee and his team walked in. He did not recognize the girl with them, but he noted that their third was a Hyuuga male. Judging by the way the Hyuuga walked, he was a skilled fighter. He signaled his two teammates to be wary of the Hyuuga. They both agreed, though Hinata signaled back that the Hyuuga was her cousin named Neji. She gave him the callsign flightless.

_Flightless is older by one year. He is considered a prodigy in clan. Be wary of a ten meter radius around him. He knows more about gentle fist than he lets on._

Both young men nodded. Shino signed back.

_I would also be wary of L-e-e, callsign Meadow. Meadow didn't use his chakra externally. Either he is hiding his true power or is unable to use it externally and trained hard to stay a ninja. Either way, Meadow is dangerous._

Fumei started signing. _The female of their team has a lot of sealing scrolls on her. I can't see into the seals much, but I do sense metal. A lot of it. Assuming weapons expert. _He paused for a moment. _Also, be careful of the Sand team. The red head, Ga-a-ra, callsign Tanuki, is a jin-chuu-ri-ki, signaled jinchuuriki. Jinchuuriki hold a tail-e-d, signaled tailed, beast inside of them. Tanuki holds the one-tailed beast._

At this, both of them tensed. A tailed beast was a legend, right? Then again, the nine-tails did attack Konoha thirteen years ago.

_Jinchuuriki gain some of their power and some form of regeneration. Most of the time it is chakra regeneration. Be wary of approaching him, he is unstable. He uses sand._

Shino. _How do you know of Jinchuuriki?_

There was a pause. Then Fumei signed. _I'll tell you when we are alone._

They nodded.

_Furthermore, the male in cat suit is a puppeteer. The female is an unknown, but the fan on her back suggests wind user._

At this moment the doors opened again and team 7 stepped through. Sasuke looked a bit beat up, but otherwise fine. Kiba was smug about something, and Sakura looked worried when the killer intent hit them.

Ino immediately ran up to the Uchiha and latched onto his back. "Sasuke!"

Sakura started to yell at Ino to get off, and Kiba chuckled a bit. Shikamaru walked up and looked around some before spotting their team. "Looks like the entire gang is here. Troublesome."

Kiba adopted a confused face until he looked in their direction as well. "Team Silent. I heard your team's nickname when the guards were talking about you. I didn't even notice you guys until Shika pointed you out."

Shino raised his eyebrow. "Is that not what a ninja should be?"

Kiba blinked, but then smiled. "Good point. How are you guys doing?"

"We are fine," Shino stated.

"Hehe, you wont be saying that after all the training we got from our sensei," Kiba boasted.

"Thank you for the warning, Kiba-san," was Shino's blatant response.

"You guys should really quiet down," a new voice stated from behind Kiba.

Every one of the group turned to see a silver haired teen standing there with a small know-it-all smile. Shino instantly cataloged this person as dangerous as he managed to sneak up on most of the people here in plain sight, though Shino had noticed him earlier and his two teammates weren't surprised by the appearance either.

Kiba frowned a bit as his nose picked something up, but it was Sasuke who spoke, "Who are you?"

"My name is Kabuto Yakushi. I'm a fellow gennin, but I'm more experienced than you rookies. You nine caused quite a stir when newly minted gennin were allowed to join the competition," the silver haired man, now Kabuto, said as he walked a bit closer.

"So, this isn't your first time in the exams," Sakura asked.

"No, it is my seventh."

"Hah, you must suck," Kiba mocked.

"No," Kabuto stated with some fierceness in his voice. "The Chunin exams are just that hard."

The sheer truth that rolled off that statement left some of the gennin weary.

Sasuke stepped forward. "Since you've been in so many exams, you must have some info, correct?"

Kabuto nodded. "Yes, I have quite a bit of info." Kabuto pulled out some cards. "These are my _ninja info cards_." He placed them down and turned over the top one. "From these graphs, it shows the number of teams from each village. As you can see, there are a number of them from each village: 7 teams from Suna, 16 teams form Konoha, 3 teams from Kiri, 6 teams from Kumo, and 13 teams from various minor villages. Sound is a new village, so there isn't much threat from them. Huh, that's odd. There is a team from Iwa."

The group pondered on this information for a moment before Sasuke spoke up, "Do you have information on specific individuals?"

"Yes, I do. Normally, I wouldn't share much information, but since you're rookies, I'll help you lot out. Now, do you have names, descriptions, village association?"

"Rock Lee of Konoha, Sabaku no Gaara, and," he paused and looked over at team 10. "Team Silent."

"Aw, you have their names, that makes it no fun. Oh well." He shuffled through the cards and picked out one. "First up, Rock Lee; Age: 13, Affiliation: Konoha, Rank: gennin for 1 year, Attempts in Chuunin exams: first try this time, D-ranks mission completed: 20, C-ranked missions completed: 12, B-ranked missions completed: 2. His team is: Sensei: Might Gai, peers: Hyuuga Neji, Tenten. He is known for his high taijutsu prowess, but has low stats in everything else."

Kabuto pulled out another card. "Next up, Gaara. He's relatively new, so I don't have much on him. Sabaku no Gaara, Age: unknown, Affiliation: Suna, Rank: Gennin for less than one year, Attempts in chuunin exams: first try this year, c-ranked missions completed: 8, B-ranked mission completed: 3... Wow, it seems he's returned from all of his mission without so much as a scratch. His teammates are Sabaku no Kankuro and Sabaku no Temari, his older siblings."

Kabuto pulled out another card. "Next up, first member of team silent. Hyuuga Hinata. Age: 12, Affiliation: Konoha, Rank: Gennin for less than one year, first try in chuunin exams, D-ranked missions completed: 14, C-ranked completed: 3. She has the standard Byakugan eyes, but not much else is known about her except that she is a mute and carries a whip. Her teammates are Ishiki Fumei and Aburame Shino. Her sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai."

Kabuto pulled out the second to last card. "Next in line is Aburame Shino. Age: 12, Rank gennin for less than one year, First try in exams, I don't need to note missions again. So far all data on him points that he is a standard Aburame. He is observant and uses bugs."

Kabuto pulled the last card. "Last is Ishiki Fumei. Formerly known as the Kuro no Heishi, the wandering A-ranked mercenary." The room sat in dead silence for a few moments.

"Bullshit," someone yelled in the back. "Ain't no way that fucker is the Kuro no Heishi."

Kabuto coughed a little and continued on, "Anyways, age: unknown: description: wears black, Bingo book entry: A-ranked "do not engage unless threatened", Wanted by Kumogakure for the murder of several of their shinobi, wanted by Kirigakure for stealing two of the 7 swords. There is more in the bingo book for what he has done, but those two were the major ones. Known abilities: high affinity for taijutsu, some genjutsu, and some ninjutsu. The metal plates on his body suggest that he is highly advantageous in CQC." He stopped for a moment, "Did you really steal two swords from Kirigakure?"

Fumei chuckled, "'Steal' is such a heavy word. More like 'I took them from the cold dead bodies of their owners'," his cold and dead voice sounded through the room.

Those words scared the lot of the gennin in the room. Most noted to stay far away from the silent team.

Most.

"Who cares!" a blur said as it rushed Kabuto. Kabuto dodged a punched by them, but suddenly crumpled to the ground and puked a bit as his glasses cracked. "Put this down in your cards! We're team sound, and we're gonna make chunin, bitch!"

A large cloud broke out at the front of the room as a large voice bellowed, "Welcome to the Chunin exams, Maggots! Oh, and team sound, if you pull that type of shit again, you're disqualified!"

"Sorry, sir. Wont happen again." The leader that was wrapped in bandages said.

"It better not, maggot. Alright, listen up everyone, you must turn in these forms and in turn we give you a number. You must sit at the seat you were assigned with that number."

Everyone quickly went through the process. Shino noted that he was nowhere near his two teammates. He looked around and noted the seating order was set up in a way that none of the teammates were close to one another.

"Now, clean out those ears, maggots. I am Morino Ibiki. Jounin proctor for this part of the exam. This exam is a written one. There are 10 questions. The first 9 will be on a sheet you will write out to. The last question will determine if you pass or not..." Ibiki continued to explain the rules as the room grew warm.

–

Ishiki Fumei chuckled a bit and smiled under his mask. He noticed the cheat rule, as did his teammates. He noted that the room was getting a bit hotter. They raised the temperature of the room to make the hopefuls sweat a bit. Smart move on their part.

Fumei quickly wrote down the answers he copied from someone that seemed to be pretty confident in them. It helped that Sakura was sitting right in front of him so he could hear the stroke mark quite clearly.

He sat around for a bit to get the feel for everyone in the exam and cataloged them for further study when in confrontations with them.

After that, he flopped forward and took a bit of a nap.

–

Ibiki saw the ex-merc had fallen asleep. Honestly, he knew that there was nothing he could do to unnerve the guy without being one-on-one, but did he really have to fall asleep? He looked over the other chunin hopefuls. Most of them were sweating or figuring out the test now. At least the smart ones.

He noted the time on a pass.

20 minutes left.

–

Hinata worked quickly to copy with her Byakugan from Fumei's paper. He had written it down pretty quickly, so she hoped that they were the right answers as well. When she was finally done, and hoping to have concealed her byakugan well enough, she put her pencil down and looked for Shino. She saw that he was tracing the answers on the paper from his bugs. He must've gathered info as well. She turned her paper over and sat backwards a little to wait the final few minutes out. She pulled at her jacket a little. Did they have to really turn up the heat?

–

"ALRIGHT LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS!" Ibiki yelled out.

Shino lifted his eyes to the man. He had just finished the last question when the proctor had called out. He knew, through his bugs, that his teammates had answers well enough. He saw Fumei lift his head a bit.

"Clean out those holes in your head you call ears and pay attention! I will not repeat anything I say." When the entire room was watching him, he continued. "Now then there is an additional rule to this final question. Those who take this question and answer it correctly will continue the test." He paused. "However, if you fail to answer this question accurately, you will be dismissed from the exam, and will be barred from ever taking the chuunin exams ever again. You will be stuck as a genin for the rest of your life!"

"WHAT! You can't do that!" The fan wielding Suna yelled out.

"WELL TOUGH SHIT, MAGGOT! You and everyone else lost all your luck when I was chosen to proctor this exam. I make the rules now! So.. SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" when everyone that could be cowed backed down, he continued once again.

"Now then, you can chose to take this question or not. Those of you who raise their hands will be allowed to leave and try again next year. Those of you who stay will take your chances." With that he stood there and threw out some killer intent to make the weak ones cave in.

After a few seconds, a genin raised his hand. "I'm out. Sorry guys."

This started a chain reaction. More and more genin rose their hands and left, taking their teams with them.

Shino looked over to his teammates. Fumei relaxed his muscles to show he was confident to them. Hinata, seeing this relaxed, too. Fumei looked to both of them and nodded. Shino and Hinata nodded back. They were in this together.

–

After 10 minutes of watching genin after genin leave, the room felt much emptier, Ibiki decided.

When he saw that no one else was going he spoke, "Well, is that it? You lot are gonna take your chances? This is the last chance to back out."

No one moved.

After two minutes of staring them down he opened his mouth. "Then, as the first proctor of the Konoha Chunin State Exam, everyone here..." He paused and saw that almost everyone tensed. He smiled. "Passed."

The dumbfounded look on their faces would feed him for weeks.

"What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?!" An Inuzuka yelled out.

Most of the genin were asking the same quesiton, though most of them in their heads.

"Quiet down, I'll explain. In a sense, the will to stay here and face down your adversity is the tenth question."

The smart ones got it almost right away, the rest, did not it seemed. Well, time to explain a little. "You see, the real tenth question was whether or not you would face down bad odds. There was a bad chance that all of your dreams would've been dashed just now. And so you asked yourself the tenth question. "Will I stay here and fail? Or will I retreat to fight another day?"" He paused. "Being a Chunin means you are a leader. An individual that can and will fight situations that get bad who has people following him. A good leader will assess the situation, and then make his decision."

"But then, what about all the questions?" The Suna girl from earlier asked.

He stared them down again, to get this next point across. "Information. Information is key, in any battle. From "How many ninjas do they have" to "What is this man's weakness." Information can make or break a mission. And gathering the wrong information can destroy you and the people around you." He reached up and pulled his bandana off. Some of them gasped. Pussies. "When you gather the wrong information, it puts everything in danger. The test here was hard. Harder than any chunin hopeful would ever be able to answer. So you had to cheat. But you had to cheat smart. It's the same in the field. If you don't gather the right information, enemies can put false knowledge into what you're gathering. Thus setting yourself up for a bad ambush, or the merchandise would be at the wrong location, or the assassination would be at a different place. The same with this test. If you were caught cheating too many times, then you were outed. But, you couldn't cheat without having some answers, so I put in two people to act as information points." At this two of the genin hopefuls stood up and dropped their henge and waved back with smiles. He noticed that many people recognized them as who they cheated from.

At this moment, something, or rather someone he knew, crashed through the window, blocking his view of the room. He sighed internally. The shit he puts up with these days.

–

Hinata's eyebrow went up ever so slowly as she saw a woman who was dressed provocatively practically appear in the class. She didn't think that her sensei's friend would be a proctor in the exams, however that didn't make her feel any better. She knew how insane this proctor would be. She'd have to warn her teammates.

–

Anko looked out over the teams after her introductions.

"You're early, Anko," Ibiki stated coming around the big banner at the front of the class that proclaimed Anko's name to the world.

Anko waved him off, "Psh, I'm not early, you were just taking your damn time. Still, 78 gennin, 26 teams. You're getting soft on me, old man."

Ibiki scoffed, "I'm not getting soft or old, we just happen to have a good bunch this year."

Anko looked over her shoulder at him, "Really?" She turned back to the students, "Well, then, it doesn't matter how good they are, I'm cutting out half of them with my next exam."

A few of the chuunin-to-be tensed at those words. What made this proctor so sure that only half of them would make it?

"Listen up!" Anko yelled out unexpectedly, bringing everyone's attention back to her. "If you want to take the next exam, follow me. We're going on a _Field Trip_."

The way she articulated the last two words made a few weary of the exam to come.

–

Along the frantic chase of the proctor to the next exam, the three team silent members met up.

_You know this woman, Flower? _Ishiki signed.

Hinata nodded. _She is our sensei's closest friend. The two are as from apart in personality as light and dark. A-N-K-O, callsigned Dango, is semi-insane. Dango knows some mo-ral, signaled moral limits; She does not use them often. Based on direction, we will be using her so called "favorite" playground, Training ground 44. Also known as, The Forest of Death._

Shino signed. _How dangerous is this location._

Hinata narrowed her eyes. _It's the ANBU testing grounds._

Both Ishiki's and Shino's body language showed weariness.

Ishiki nodded. _Thank you for telling us, Flower. White, will we be able to use the local insect pop-u-la-tion, signaled population to our advantage?_

Shino signed. _Hypothetically, yes. Reality, we shall see, Senseless._

Ishiki thought for a moment. _Let us see what this test shall be then._

Just as the three exited a tree line, they heard a voice in front of the entire crowd. "Alright, brats of all ages and genders, this here is my very favorite playground, the Forest of Deathhhhhh." Anko drew out the word, and just as she ended, the thick forest behind her seemed to come to life. Luckily for most people, it seemed a special metal fence had been built around it to hold in the dangers.

"For the second exam, you will be participating in a five day scroll battle, for which this lovely little landscape behind me shall serve as your battlefield," At this point she held up a map. "The forest has a radius of approximately ten kilometers(roughly 6 miles), the center of which holds a tower. This tower is your destination."

She held up two scrolls, one with the symbol for earth, the other heaven. "Each team will be getting one of these two types of scrolls, handed out in even numbers. In order to pass this exam, you will need both scrolls and be at the tower by the fifth day."

Everyone smart gained a look of realization.

Hinata mentally frowned. So that's how Anko was going to cut their numbers in half. Only thirteen teams would pass, as there were only thirteen complete sets. Counting in that if any scroll was damaged or lost, then the total number of sets would be cut down by one. Reality would dictate that only ten or even nine sets would have a chance.

Anko made the scrolls and map disappear. "Also, I should note that you shouldn't open these scrolls before you make it to the tower, as you will be automatically disqualified. This exam is to show that you can safely get secured and delicate info from point A to point B, while not peeking at the information inside."

Several chuunin came out holding paper forms. "The forms that my lovely little chuunins here are passing out are essential in order to get inside this forest. These are release forms, stating that Konoha, in no way shape or form, is responsible for your well-being while inside this fence. You'll get your scroll when one of you carries all three of your teammates' forms to that tent over there."

"And you're making us sign this form, why?" asked a hopeful.

Anko's smile bordered on creepy and insane. "Because, munchkin, you will be in a forest that harbors only the most deadly of creatures and will be fighting your fellow chuunin-hopefuls for the CHANCE at being promoted. We don't want the backlash of your Blood-drained Body showing up at a Kage's desk and causing an international incident. This way, the form that will go with your Carved Cadaver will explain that you died because you were a dumbass. The Kage will then just throw your Cold Carcass into a nearby mass grave and forget _all_ about you."

The teen started shivering at the thought.

Anko looked at everyone else, "Any other questions?"

"What will we do about food," Asked Chouji with his arm raised.

Anko frowned. "You'll be in a forest, I'm sure you'll find something, hopefully not poisonous, to eat. Any other stupid questions," She asked. Silence was her response. After a moment she smiled. "Well then, I have one last piece of advice for ya: JUST DON'T DIE!"

–

Ishiki stared at the fence in front of him. He could sense that the gate was chakra controlled. The field surrounding it made the air uncomfortably cold, meaning most wildlife would avoid it's affect. This would allow humans to safely bypass it's defenses, but keep wildlife in.

He turned to see Shino approach him and Hinata at their gate. _Symbol._

Shino signed back. _Earth._

Hinata frowned. _Then heaven, we need._

Ishiki signed. _How much control over that caterpillar we saw earlier could you make?_

Shino frowned. _Too big for my current control. I would need something smaller that lives in colonies for best control._

Ishiki nodded. _Flower, will the density of the forest lower your range?_

Hinata nodded. _I will lose a quarter of my range, by both density and chakra saturation._

Shino added. _My range will be increased, insects will have a longer range. Air is saturated by chakra._

Ishiki then faced towards their gate. _Then the plan will be simple, we'll rush to the tower and setup a trap along the way. White will spread his range as far as he can and look for a suitable location to place the trap. Flower will use her shortened range for incoming attackers only. White, if you can, find something that will hunt our prey and use that._

They both acknowledged the order.

Anko's voice the was blasted over the com system. "Let the second exam, BEGIN!"

–

End Seventh sense: Heatless


End file.
